US charges businessman Terry Wu and 11 others with dealing drugs and illegally shipping shark fins to Hong Kong

US federal authorities said on Thursday that they have charged 12 people and seized nearly US$8 million in cash, jewels and precious metals after disrupting a criminal enterprise that dealt drugs and sold illegally harvested shark fins to buyers overseas.

US Attorney Bobby Christine of Georgia’s Southern District said that what began five years ago as a US Fish and Wildlife Service investigation into illegal shark fin trading led to authorities “dismantling a major conspiracy” also involved in illegal marijuana trafficking and money laundering.

“This operation is about much more than disrupting the despicable practice of hacking the fins off of sharks and leaving them to drown in the sea to create a bowl of soup,” Christine told a news conference in Savannah.

An indictment in US District Court says that Terry Xing Zhao Wu ran a company called Serendipity Business Solutions in Burlingame, California, that smuggled shark fins into the US from Mexico and shipped them to Hong Kong.

Soups made from shark fins are considered a delicacy in some Asian countries, and that demand has fuelled an illegal practice of catching sharks at sea, removing their fins and then dumping the maimed animals back into the water to die.