Marine police foil another attempt to smuggle turtle eggs

SANDAKAN: The marine police here foiled another attempt to smuggle turtle eggs from a neighbouring country into Sandakan, the third success within a month.

Yesterday, at about 4.45am a patrol boat on routine operational patrol off the Mile 2 rivermouth spotted a pump boat heading from the sea towards the Mile 2 river, Sandakan Marine Police commanding officer ASP Amran Che Mat Noor said.

The pump boat raced off on seeing the approaching marine police patrol boat and ignored order from the marine police to stop, he added.

Amran said the boatman abandoned the pump boat and escaped into the mangrove swamp before the marine personnel caught up with it.

“Our officers found 16 sacks containing 8,000 turtle eggs upon searching the abandoned boat which were later taken back to the marine police base here,” Amran said.

The case would be referred to the Wildlife Department for further action.

On May 30 and May 31, the Sandakan Marine Police confiscated a total of 6,500 turtle eggs along the coastal area off Kampung Forest and Sungai Obar, Mile 7 respectively.

There were no arrests made in all three cases.