BATAM (Riau Islands), Oct 13 (Bernama-Antara) -- The Batam Customs Office has thwarted the smuggling of 266,600 baby lobsters in the waters of Bintan, Riau Islands, with a total value of 26.9 billion rupiah (US$1.6 million), reported Indonesian News Agency (Antara).
In a statement on Sunday, the office's head, Zaky Firmansyah, said that the operation began with a report regarding a high-speed craft suspected of smuggling baby lobsters to Malaysia on Saturday.
"Based on the information, a team monitored the vessel," he added.
He stated that the team managed to foil the smuggling attempt and secure the vessel carrying 266,600 baby lobsters in 53 boxes.
According to Firmansyah, the smugglers had switched from nighttime to daytime operations.
"Our team has anticipated this by always conducting routine patrols and other surveillance measures," he stated.
Smuggling baby lobsters is prohibited under the law, carrying a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a fine of five billion rupiah (US$309,000).
The seized baby lobsters were then released back into the waters of the Riau Islands, Firmansyah reported.
On Sept 3, Customs released 275,000 baby lobsters into the waters of Batam city. They were secured during a joint operation with the Coast Guard in the waters near Topang Island.
A week earlier, Customs also thwarted the smuggling of 177,300 baby lobsters worth 17.7 billion rupiah (US$1 million) in the waters off Pengelap Island and Abang Island.
-- BERNAMA-ANTARA
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