"So far, we have questioned around 25 witnesses. They consisted of PT KAM management officials, local residents and experts," Senior Commissioner Antonius Wisnu Sutirta, a spokesman of the East Kalimantan Police, said on the phone Thursday.
The Kutai Kartanegara police would continue to investigate the case to find more evidence and possible suspects, he said.
"The investigation is still going on, and there is a possibility that the number of suspects will increase. We will find out who had instructed (the orangutan murders) and who had paid them to commit the crime," Wisnu said.
PT Khaleda Agroprima Malindo (KAM) is a Malaysian oil palm company which considers orangutans and monkeys pests.
"According to the arrested suspects, they killed two orangutans and 20 monkeys , and the evidence was the animals` skeletons, an air rifle, spears and ropes," Wisnu said.
Police have named two suspects, namely M alias G and M, in the Kalimantan orangutan and monkey killing case .
The two suspects are pest eradication workers of PT KAM.
They said they had killed the animals on instructions from P and A , PT KAM managers, two years ago. They were paid Rp200,000 per one monkey and Rp1 million per orangutan.
They are now liable to a five-year jail sentence and payment of a Rp100 million-fine in accordance with Law No 5/1990 on Natural Resource Biodiversity and Ecosystem Conservation.
East Kalimantan Governor Awang Faroek Ishak recently denied the reports about orangutan killings in the province.
"I have reiterated that, the provincial government, the Kutai Kartanegara district administration and the local police did not find any evidence of orangutan killings," Awang Faroek told the media in the East Kalimantan capital of Samarinda, on November 18, 2011.
(Uu.F001/HAJM)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
