By IRNA,
Berlin : German authorities have cracked down on caviar smuggling, confiscating nearly 60 kilograms of illegal Caspian Sea caviar in Germany from November 1 through December 12, the Munich- based weekly Focus news magazine reported Saturday.
The sting operation targeted nationwide hotels, luxury restaurants and caviar dealers.
German customs agents received also information about imminent large-scale caviar deliveries from Russia.
International criminal bands have repeatedly violated endangered species treaties, fishing for sturgeons and selling the unfertilized roe in Western Europe.
Meanwhile, a Frankfurt-based businessman was recently arrested in France for trying to smuggle 40 kilograms of Beluga caviar.
According to German customs officials, the accused had also smuggled 1.1 tons of illegal caviar to Germany.
Female beluga sturgeon are regarded as the world’s most valuable commercially harvested fish because they supply beluga caviar, one of the world’s most highly prized delicacies.
Unregulated overfishing, loss of spawning habitat, and poaching to supply the black market beluga caviar trade have all contributed to a decrease in the wild beluga sturgeon population in the Caspian Sea.
Sturgeon can live up to 100 years, but they must live 20 years to reach reproduction age.
The female fish is killed in the process of obtaining the roe that is salted to make caviar, so sturgeon are especially vulnerable to the trade in black market caviar.