11 found guilty of killing of five endangered jumbos in 2020

Facing the law: Police escorting the group of men (in orange) to prison, after the court found them guilty in Calang, Aceh province. — AFP

Eleven poachers were jailed by an Indonesian court over the 2020 killing of five critically endangered Sumatran elephants and the illegal trade of their lucrative tusks, as the South-East Asian archipelago’s battle with wildlife crime continues.

Rampant deforestation has reduced the elephants’ habitat and brought them into increasing conflict with humans, while their ivory tusks are prized in the illegal wildlife trade.