JAKARTA, Aug. 3 (Xinhua) -- The Indonesian police have arrested two alleged killers of protected Sumatran elephants and been hunting another person for alleged involvement in the case.
The suspects sold the tusks and other body parts of the elephants (elephas maximus sumatranus) they hunted in Riau province, the Indragiri Hulu District, Police's Chief Efrizal SIK said on Monday.
The two persons were captured in the province and nearby North Sumatra province last month with scores of evidence including the skulls of elephants, a pair of tusks and assembled weapons, said the police officer.
The two persons have long been implicated in poaching of endangered giant mammals, he said.
They were involved in the killing of Sumatran elephants in the districts of Palalawan and Bengkalis in Riau province in 2015, said Efrizal.
Under the law, the suspects shall face a five-year jail term and pay fines if found guilty, local media reported.
The Sumatran elephant is a sub-species of Asian elephant which is extremely rare. The number of the Sumatran elephants just reached around 2,000 based on the prediction in 2000.
The animals are found exclusively in the Sumatra Island, but their population has severely drifted down as they lost more than 80 percent of habitat due to deforestation. Enditem
