RIYADH: Three Saudi nationals were briefly detained in Indonesia for allegedly trying to smuggle rare and endangered birds out of that country.

The unidentified suspects were arrested at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport with 33 tropical birds stuffed in hidden compartments of their luggage, according to a report released by Indonesia’s Antara news agency.

They were also found with a number of lories, a type of small tropical primate.

“The detention was brief. They were released after the interference of the Saudi Embassy,” said an airline official who identified himself only as Karim.

“It is common for visitors to smuggle exotic Indonesian birds. Indonesian immigration officials have foiled several such attempts in the past,” said Karim, while playing down the incident.

The birds and primates were found inside four bags brought by a family of three, who had Saudi passports and were booked on a flight to Riyadh.

The birds included a black-capped lory, eight pigeons, a salmon-crested cockatoo, a Goffin’s cockatoo, 16 hill mynas, an olive-headed lorikeet, a purple-naped lory, and an umbrella cockatoo.

A statement released by Jakarta Animal Aid Network said some Indonesian villagers take part in the illegal trapping and trading of exotic birds and animals to supplement their incomes. A 1990 law on natural resource conservation states that anyone caught smuggling protected animals out of Indonesia faces up to five years in prison in addition to fines.