Jail for man caught with rare birds again

A BIRD breeder was yesterday jailed a year and fined $10,000 for possessing two endangered birds which were imported without a permit.

It was the latest in a string of convictions Kuah Kok Choon, 26, had faced for smuggling in endangered birds and possessing illegally-acquired animals, and prompted Chief Justice Yong Pung How to call him an ""international smuggler of birds of endangered species''.

He noted that Kuah had been fined more than $20,000 for crimes in this area.

Kuah, a director of Indah Fauna Breeding and Research, had been acquitted in a district court in April for possessing two Lear's Macaws, an endangered breed of parrot of which fewer than 130 exist in the wild.

CJ Yong yesterday allowed the prosecution's appeal against the acquittal.

The two endangered birds were found hidden in two separate bags in Kuah's shophouse at 99, Rangoon Road in July 1996 by Primary Production Department officers.

They found that he had no licence to import the macaws, which are from Brazil and cost about $100,000 each.

Brazil has banned exports of the bird since 1967, because it is on the brink of extinction.

Kuah was slapped with a summons last year and his trial was heard this year.

Yesterday, deputy public prosecutors Hamidul Haq and Thong Chee Kun told the court that there was no dispute that the birds were found in Kuah's house. He also did not deny being in possession of them.

The prosecutors also listed his previous convictions:

In 1994, he was caught for the unauthorised import of six exotic parrots in Perth, Australia, and fined A$10,500 (S$9,570.75). He was then also fined A$600 for giving a false statement.

• In April 1996, he was fined $3,200 for trying to smuggle in three exotic birds and a squirrel.

   

• In 1997, he was found in possession of four illegally-acquired gibbons and fined $6,300.

   

• In July last year, he was fined $10,000 for forging permits to obtain the release of the two Lear's Macaws at Roissy-Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris.

  Kuah's defence was that he had bought the birds between 1988 and 1990, before the law came into effect.

  CJ Yong noted that Kuah had been interested in birds since his school days, had educated himself about them and had written articles on them.

  But none of that detracted from the fact that his offence was a serious one that called for a jail term, added the CJ.