On Nov. 11, 2024, Alfi Simatupang, a police officer in Asahan district on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, was arrested along with two soldiers and a civilian for allegedly attempting to traffic nearly 1.2 metric tons of pangolin scales. Since that bust, the civilian, Amir Simatupang, has gone on trial; the soldiers, Muhammad Yusuf Harahap and Rahmadani Syahputra, are undergoing a court-martial; while Alfi, the alleged mastermind of the trafficking plot, has not only avoided prosecution, but even been promoted. This glaring disparity in the way the case is being prosecuted has highlighted once again the apparent impunity enjoyed by law enforcement officers accused of wildlife crimes in Indonesia, observers say. "This is not the first case involving [law enforcement] officials," Marison Guciano, co-founder of the nonprofit conservation NGO Flight Indonesia Foundation, said in response to the case. "There's big money in the illegal wildlife business." The case came to light last November when a joint team of police, military police and environment ministry enforcement officers received a tip about a potential trade in pangolin scales. They first arrested Yusuf, one of the soldiers, who was found driving a pickup truck loaded with boxes containing a combined 320 kilograms (705 pounds) of pangolin scales. The raid also netted the second soldier, Syahputra, along with Alfi and Amir, is alleged to be the middleman connecting the sellers to a buyer in Aceh province. A search of Yusuf’s home uncovered another 858 kg (1,892 lbs) of pangolin scales, for a total of nearly 1.2 metric tons.