As many as 5,203 lobster seeds were seized by police officers on Thursday afternoon (Oct 18) from a man with the initials of AJ, 48, who is a resident of Banyuwangi, Head of Sub-Directorate of Law Enforcement of West Nusa Tenggara`s water police unit, Senior Adjunct Police Commissioner Erwin Ardiansyah stated here on Friday.
"Based on our investigation, the suspect, with initials AJ, played a role of distributor of lobster seeds. Thousands of lobster seeds will be illegally shipped to Banyuwangi to be sold," Ardiansyah noted.
The suspect AJ confessed to the officers that he obtained the lobster seeds from a collector lived in Central Lombok at a price of Rp40 thousand for a pearl lobster seed and Rp5 thousand for a sand lobster seed.
Meanwhile, West Nusa Tenggara`s water police are still looking for collectors, who illegally supplied lobster seeds to AJ.
"We have not caught the collector, but we already have the identity," Ardiansyah revealed.
Furthermore, AJ was declared as a suspect based on Indonesia`s Law No. 45 of 2009 on Fishery. The Police have detained AJ along with the evidence of thousands of lobster seeds. AJ will face a maximum jail sentence of six years and a maximum fine of Rp1.5 billion.
Editing by I.W. Yoga/Yuni Arisandy Sinaga
Reporter: Antara
Editor: Andi Abdussalam
Copyright © ANTARA 2018
