LANGKAWI: About 600 fish worth hundreds of thousands of ringgit have mysteriously died at Langkawi Underwater World.
Police believe the fish, which included sharks and stingrays, were poisoned. They have also not ruled out sabotage as the fish started dying en masse just before closing time at 6pm on Monday.
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A mystery: A worker removing the dead Travelitunne from the fish tanks at the Langkawi Underwater World yesterday. |
Yesterday morning hundreds of fish carcasses were floating in the hexagonal and tunnel tanks at the old wing of the UWL. Fish in five smaller tanks were also not spared.
UWL workers managed to save about 30 fish in the smaller tanks.
Deputy general manager Mohd Hafizuddin Abdullah said the fish died quite fast, without any obvious sign of distress.
“We did not see them wriggling in water before dying.
“Samples including water and carcasses have been taken for chemical analysis,” he said when contacted yesterday.
Mohd Hafizuddin said a thorough investigation was being carried out.
“Among the oldest fish that has died was a nurse shark that is about 12 years old,” he added.
He said the freshwater and marine life section at UWL has been temporarily closed to visitors to facilitate the investigation.
UWL houses 4,000 animals and sea creatures in 100 specially designed tanks.
UWL worker Malik Azmin said he felt sad to see the carcasses floating in the tank.
Wednesday September 26, 2007
Fishy deaths - police believe it's an inside job
LANGKAWI: In what is believed to be an inside job, Langkawi Underwater World has offered a RM10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of those responsible for poisoning about 600 fish.
Langkawi OCPD Supt Mohd Ali Jamaludin urged those with information to assist the police to bring the culprits to book as soon as possible.
“We believe the poisoning was done by insiders. It was well planned.
“We suspect two or more people were involved,” he said, adding that the crime had affected Langkawi’s highly-valued tourism product.
It was reported that about 600 fish worth hundreds of thousands of ringgit were found dead in two large tanks and five smaller tanks of the old wing of UWL on Monday.
Among the valuable fish that died were sharks including the white tip, black tip, leopard and nurse, and variety of stingrays including the rare cownose ray.
“The fish started dying en masse at about 6.40pm just as the lights were switched off,” he said when contacted on Wednesday.
Police have ruled out outsiders’ involvement because the inlets to the tanks were accessible only to UWL staff.
Supt Mohd Ali also noted several weaknesses in the security system at the old wing including absence of CCTV and free accessibility to all personnel.
He said police had taken water and carcass samples for analysis and the results would be known within a week.
“The chemical used could be petroleum,” he said.
The case is being investigated under Section 429 of the Penal Code for treason. If found guilty the offender is liable to a minimum fine of RM25,000 and or jailed up to five years.
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