Estate worker jailed for 18 months, fined RM50,000 for taking tusks of dead elephant

KOTA KINABALU: An Indonesian estate worker was jailed 18 months and fined RM50,000 by the Sandakan Sessions Court on Tuesday (Feb 25) for possessing two elephant tusks.

Supriadi Juman, 50, was also ordered by Sessions Court judge Indra Ayub to be jailed for an additional nine months if he failed to pay the RM50,000 fine.

Supriadi earlier pleaded guilty to possessing the two elephant tusks for ornamental purposes at the Bingingan Estate 2 in Beluran district at about 1pm on Oct 23,2019.

He was charged under Section 41(1) of the Sabah Wildlife Conservation Enactment 1997, which carries a maximum jail term of not less than one year to a maximum of five years and a minimum fine of RM50,000 and not more than RM250,000.

Prior to sentencing, Supriadi pleaded for a lenient sentence, saying that he has to look after his wife and two school-going children back in his village in Indonesia.

Earlier, deputy public prosecutor Mark Kenneth Netto in tendering the facts of the case said that a Sabah Wildlife Department team along with Beluran police officers launched an investigation following the discovery of a dead elephant on Oct 19.

In follow-up operations, Supriadi was arrested in suspicion of taking the tusks.