Six suspects arrested over brutal elephant killing in Malaysia, believed to be plantation guards

KOTA KINABALU — Police have arrested a total of six suspects over the brutal killing of a juvenile Borneon pygmy elephant in a series of raids on Wednesday (Oct 2) from 12.20am up to the afternoon.

Tawau district police chief assistant commissioner Peter Umbuas told a news conference there that the arrests began with a public tip-off from a trusted source, which led to the arrest of the first suspect this morning at 12.20am at a house in Felda Umas 4, Tawau.

“The arrest led to three other raids conducted up to 4am in the Felda Umas district up to which led to the arrest of three other suspects, who were found with an assortment of weapons, including one Iver Johnson 30 inch single barrel pump gun, a handmade air rifle, a homemade shotgun also known as ‘bakakuk’, a variety of 75 live bullets, air rifle bullets and shells among other things,” he said.

A gun license for the pump gun, which was both obtained legitimately, was also discovered.

“The fifth and sixth suspects were arrested this afternoon together, and the elephant tusks are believed to have been in their possession,” he said, adding that he has yet to go to the raid location and see the ivory from the latest arrest.

The six suspects are aged between 48 to 68 years old, and all but one are locals. One is a worker in the Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) estate, while two others were hired to guard a plantation from elephant intrusions.

They are expected to be remanded in court tomorrow morning.

“We believe the motive for the killing may be two-pronged — they were hired to guard the premises from the elephant but instead of scaring it off, they may have had to kill it, or decided to kill it for the ivory,” he said.

Mr Umbuas said that the 70 shot wounds using a slug showed the intent to kill.

When asked about the rope that was found tied to the elephant’s neck at first, he said it was unlikely that they had caught the animal and tied it before shooting.

“They must have killed it first before tying it up,” he said.

Umbuas also said that the animal was killed in an area known as a riparian reserve, in between the plantation and a river.

He said that police consider the case close with the arrest of the six suspects.

All six suspects are being investigated under Section 25(1) of the Wildlife Conservation Enactment for hunting a protected animal illegally. If convicted they could be sentenced to five years jail and fined RM250,000 (S$82,623).

Aside from that, police are also investigating them for possession of an illegal weapon under Section 8(a) of the Arms Act 1960 and the sole foreigner is being investigated for not having valid travel or work documents.

Last week, news that the carcass of 30-year-old elephant was found floating in the Sungai Udin river in Kalabakan had spread online.

In the following post-mortem, authorities discovered more than 70 bullet wounds all over the elephant’s body, likely from a semi-automatic gun, including a fatal shot that pierced its skull. Its tusks were also sawn off, leading to belief that this was the work of poachers.

Subsequently, a reward of RM30,000 was offered for information leading to the capture and arrest of the suspects.

On this, Mr Umbuas said that he believed the source was not motivated by the monetary reward but had a close and trusted relationship with several policemen.

“I thank them for coming forward. I don’t know who it is, but only that it was a male. We know that at least the Sabah Wildlife Department will honour their word of the RM10,000 reward of which they pledged. I cannot say as to the third-party donors,” he said. MALAY MAIL