American butterfly catcher nabbed in Indonesian park

[neil at nwjones.demon.co.uk]

http://www.brunei-online.com/bb/mon/nov3w15.htm
American butterfly catcher nabbed in Indonesian park 
 
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - An American has been arrested and faces deportation for allegedly catching endangered butterflies in an Indonesian national park, police said Sunday.
Butterfly collector Larry Munsey, 58, was detained Wednesday while searching for an unidentified species in the South Bukit Barisan National Park in Tanggamus on Sumatra island about 200 km (120 miles) west of the capital, Jakarta, said Haerudin, a Lampung police officer.

Like many Indonesians, Haerudin uses only one name.

Web site Lampungonline.com said that Munsey and three other Indonesians were caught with 361 dead butterflies and moths, nine of them protected species.

Munsey has been handed over to immigration authorities, who plan to deport him for visa violations and for collecting the butterflies without permission, Haerudin said.

"He will soon be deported," the state-run Antara news agency on Sunday quoted local immigration office head Etty Andriani as saying on Sunday.

The three Indonesians could face up to five years in jail and a fine of 100 million rupiah ($US117,000) for violating the country's endangered species law, police told Lampungonline.com.

Munsey's hometown was not immediately known.
 



 
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