TAWAU: Four foreigners were sentenced to two years’ jail and fined RM100,000 each, in default nine months’ jail, for possessing protected turtles.
Reysal Brunu, 44, Bartasan Gelah, 25, Masikal Jahan, 24, and Kindat Magane, 50, pleaded guilty to charges of having 18 plastrons (part of the shell), three bags of turtle flesh and a bag of turtle shells in waters off Bohey Dulang island in Semporna on April 30.
They had been detained by Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency personnel who were patrolling the area.
Sessions Court judge Indra Ayub ordered the sentences to begin from the date of arrest.
The four were convicted under Section 41(4) of Wildlife Conservation Enactment 1997 which was read together with Section 34 of the Penal Code.
The turtle parts they possessed were from the Chelonia mydas species which is listed as a protected species in Part I of Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Conservation Enactment 1997.
Abdul Karim Dakog from Sabah Wildlife Department prosecuted the case while the four accused were unrepresented.