Smuggling of 6,860 Songbirds from West Nusa Tenggara foiled at Tanjung Wangi Port, East Java

The Ketapang Port Quarantine Service Unit with the support of FLIGHT has foiled an attempt to smuggle 6,860 songbirds from West Nusa Tenggara to Java. Quarantine officers seized thousands of birds at Tanjung Wangi Port, Banyuwangi Regency, East Java, on Saturday night, February 1, 2025.

The thousands of songbirds were transported using a truck with the police number DK from Bali Province. The person in charge of the Ketapang Quarantine Service Unit, Fitri Hidayat, said that attempts to smuggle songbirds through Banyuwangi have repeatedly occurred.

Fitri Hidayati said the songbirds will be quarantined for the next few days. The Ketapang Quarantine Center will check the health condition of the birds before releasing them into the wild. “The songbirds came from Lombok and did not have quarantine documents from their origin,” said Fitri.

Fitri said that the Natural Resources Conservation Agency and the police will further investigate this wildlife smuggling practice. “After the quarantine process is complete, the songbirds will be returned and released to West Nusa Tenggara,” Fitri said.

FLIGHT Executive Director Marison Guciano urged law enforcers to reveal the perpetrators behind the smuggling of wild birds. He said the perpetrators must be prosecuted. This is because, he said, it is strongly suspected that the practice is backed by authorities in charge of the natural resource conservation sector.

The suspicion arises considering the large number of birds to be smuggled. He said the prosecution must also be accompanied by education to the public.

Based on FLIGHT data, in the last five years, around 300,000 songbirds have been confiscated from the illegal trade in Indonesia.