In Sumatra, 15 people were arrested for poaching.Image: EPA
03/04/2026, 07:5403/04/2026, 07:54
After the killing and beheading of several critically endangered elephants on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, police have arrested 15 suspected members of an organized poaching ring. The suspects are accused of shooting elephants and removing their tusks for the illegal ivory trade.
The investigation was triggered by a dozen elephant carcasses that were found with their heads severed in Pelalawan district in Riau province since 2024.
Those arrested face 15 years in prison
According to the police, the network is said to have been organized according to a division of labor – with shooters, helpers to cut off the heads, weapons suppliers, financiers and middlemen for the sale of the ivory. Three other suspects are still at large. If convicted, you could face up to 15 years in prison. No information was initially provided about the amount of ivory seized.
The rare Sumatran elephants (Elephas maximus sumatranus) live exclusively on Sumatra, the sixth largest island in the world, which lies southwest of Malaysia and Singapore. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists the subspecies as “critically endangered” on its Red List.
According to estimates by the nature conservation organization WWF, there are currently only 2,500 to 2,800 specimens left in the wild. The main causes are the massive loss of their habitat due to deforestation for palm oil plantations as well as poaching and conflicts with humans. (sda/dpa)