ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Nov. 3, 2008) – Malaysian authorities seized thousands of endangered turtles smuggled into Sabah from the southern Philippines, report said on Monday.
It said unidentified men were unloading the eggs along the shorelines of a village called Kampung Forest when a marine police patrol spotted them late Sunday.
“The eggs, believed to have been smuggled in from neighboring southern Philippines, were found inside 20 gunnysacks,” a report by the Star Online, quoting Sandakan marine police chief Muhammad Sallam Spawi.
Authorities said the men escaped on a speedboat as the police patrol approached. It was unknown whether the men were Filipinos or not.
Turtle eggs are considered a delicacy in the southern Philippines and in Malaysia where it sell RM2.80 a piece. But turtle eggs in the Sulu Archipelago, particularly in the islands of Tawi-Tawi have been harvested on a massive scale for decades despite a government campaign regulating the number of eggs that can be collected in a nesting season.
The islands of Taganak, Lihiman, Bakungan, Langaan and Boan, including Baguan are favorite nesting grounds of Green Sea turtles (Chelonia mydas) in Tawi-Tawi, several nautical miles from the Sabah border. The areas are also favorite hunting grounds of local and foreign poachers. (Mindanao Examiner)
