KUCHING: Two foreign students from a university in China were each sentenced by the Sessions Court here yesterday to fine of RM9,000, or in default, six months’ imprisonment, for possessing materials with the intent of taking animals or plants, releasing foreign wildlife, and removing wildlife and plants from Bako National Park without permission.
Zhu Sukai, 18, and Yu Jiashu, 21, both Chinese nationals studying in the Faculty of Agriculture, pleaded guilty before Judge Musli Abdul Hamid to the three charges.
According to the first charge, both possessed materials to keep, take, and catch wild animals or plants without the National Park Service’s permission.
For this, they were charged under Section 26(b) of the National Parks and Nature Reserves Ordinance 1998 (Chapter 27) and punishable under Sections 32(a) and 31, read together with Section 34 of the Penal Code (Act 574).
Regarding the second charge, they were indicted under Section 26(e) of the same ordinance and penalized under Sections 32(a) and 31, read together with Section 34 of the Penal Code (Act 574), for releasing wild animals into the national park without permission.
For the third charge, they were accused of attempting to remove wild animals and plants, whether live or dead, without permission. The offence falls under Section 26(f) of the National Parks and Nature Reserves Ordinance 1998 (Chapter 27), read alongside Section 34 and Section 511 of the Penal Code (Act 574), and is punishable under Sections 32(a) and 31 of the same ordinance.
All the offenses took place on Sept 21, around 2.01 pm at Bako National Park.
Judge Musli sentenced them to a fine of RM3,000 each, or in default, two months in prison for each charge.
According to the facts of the case, during the incident, a team of forest rangers from the Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC) arrested two foreign men who acting suspicious behaviour upon entering Bako National Park. They were found carrying a large backpack filled with suspicious laboratory equipment.
Further investigation revealed that the duo had brought with them two live species of alien insects, a scorpion and a beetle, which they stored in their backpacks. They also possessed measuring tools and laboratory equipment such as tweezers, tubes, and plastic jars to collect specimens.
Moreover, they couldn’t provide any evidence of having valid permission from the park rangers for any collection or transfer of specimens.
SFC prosecuting officer Arvin Khan handled the case’s prosecution, while the duo remained unrepresented by counsels.
