Hong Kong’s biggest seizure of seahorses in two years recovers 75kg of endangered species, valued at HK$1 million
- Some 25kg of the dried seafood airmailed into the city from Indonesia via Shenzhen, while another 50kg seized from a flat in Tuen Mun
- Undercover customs officers arrested a 63-year-old man who received the consignment – labelled as body scrub – from Indonesia
Hong Kong customs officers have made their biggest seizure of endangered seahorses in two years with the arrest of a 63-year-old man during an operation against illegal wildlife trade, finding 75kg of the product valued at HK$1 million (US$129,000).
About 25kg of the dried seahorses were airmailed into the city from Indonesia via a logistic hub in Shenzhen and were found in a Hong Kong truck at Lok Ma Chau border checkpoint on Wednesday.
The good were found in two boxes which were declared to be carrying body scrub, according to a customs official. The parcel was addressed to a public housing flat in Tuen Mun.
“After a follow-up investigation, a customs officer posed as a courier and delivered the consignment to the Tuen Mun premises the next day,” a law enforcement source said.
He said a 63-year-old male tenant was the consignee and was taken into custody after he received the package from the undercover agent on Thursday night.
