geryl ogilvy The Star 15 Sep 17;
KUCHING: The Malaysian army foiled an attempt by four Indonesian nationals to smuggle 672 live magpies into West Kalimantan, Indonesia, at the border near Tebedu.
During the 4.40am incident on Friday, a border patrol stopped four men, aged between 29 and 32, who were carrying 56 enclosures and cages filled with the birds along a jungle track near the Immigration, Customs, Quarantine and Security complex at Tebedu, some 100km from here.
"Initial investigations reveal that the suspects were paid RM50 each to smuggle the birds out of the country.
"They used a jungle track in the wee hours of the morning in an attempt to avoid detection," a spokesman from the First Malaysian Infantry Division said in a statement.
The four suspects were reported to have entered Sarawak illegally.
Earlier at around 2am, the army detained two other Indonesians attempting to smuggle poisons across the Malaysian border.
The army has since lodged a report at the Tebedu police station and surrendered the six individuals to the Immigration detention depot at Simunjan, Serian.
