Man remanded for five days over deaths of eight sea turtles

KOTA KINABALU: A 60-year-old man was arrested over the deaths of about eight sea turtles at Pulau Bum Bum last week where investigators had also found 100 skeletal remains of the sea creature.

Sabah Wildlife Department director Augustine Tuuga said Monday that the suspect from Kg Pantau-Pantau in Semporna’s Pulau Bum Bum was remanded by the magistrate's court for five days for questioning.

He said they have identified several suspects and are searching for them at several islands in this east coast district of Sabah.

The arrests are the first break for the Wildlife Department in their probe into the turtle killings that have stirred an outcry among local and international conservationists.

Tuuga did not disclose if the suspect and those wanted were also linked to the discovery of another seven burned sea turtle skeletons found at the tourists resort island of Pulau Mabul.

On the deaths of two Bornean pygmy bull elephants whose tusks were removed, he said they identified several suspects following information gathered from the public.

He said that investigations were ongoing into the killing of a male elephant in Kinabatangan last month.

“The search for the crime scene was done by boat along the river and on land by vehicle," said Tuuga.

He added that an inspection along the Koyah river near the site where the elephant carcass was found floating did not detect any sign of elephant footprints.

He said that this meant that the elephant was not from the area.

In the Tawau case where a bull elephant was found dead, Tuuga said that they were waiting for the blood sample analysis.