Indonesian Navy foils attempt to smuggle birds to Singapore

The Jakarta Post 10 Mar 09;

A routine Navy patrol on Tuesday morning foiled an attempt to smuggle around 2,000 exotic birds from Batam to Singapore, Antara reports.

Chief of the patrol team first Lt. Rudi Amirudin said his team had stopped the MV Citra Lima just minutes after it left Batam International Seaport at around 8:30 a.m. following a tip off from locals.

The officers discovered thousands of canaries and estrildid finch songbirds (locally knows as burung pipit) and could find no documents for their shipment.

After questioning the boat's captain and passengers no once claimed ownership of the birds or knew who had brought them onboard.

The team returned the birds to Batam Quarantine Office, Rudi said.