Customs seizes 14kg shark fins, Rs 33L in foreign currency, 1 held

A release from the office of the Commissioner of Customs said, based on intelligence that foreign currency and prohibited wildlife species product like star turtles and shark fins were likely to be smuggled to Singapore and Malaysia via Scoot Airlines, a special alert and vigil was maintained by the Air Intelligence Unit officers at the departure terminal to catch the smugglers.

AIU officers noticed a male passenger moving in a suspicious manner with a big carton box in the departure area.

They watched him closely and intercepted him after he had cleared immigration and customs and was proceeding towards security check.

The passenger, Mohamed Saleem (54), who was bound for Singapore by a Scoot Airlines Flight, was questioned about the contents of his carton box.

As he was evasive in his reply he along with his checked in luggage was brought in for detailed examination.

The carton box contained two white HDPE gunny bags in which suspected wildlife product similar to shark fins, weighing 14 kg, were found.

Further, two brown color paper bags were also found concealed inside the shark fins.

On opening of the paper bags, assorted foreign currencies 6000 USD, 27,600 Euro, 1,000 Norway Kroner, 3,400 Canadian dollars, 2,450 Pound Sterling, 14,000 Qatar Riyal worth Rs 33 lakh in total were found. The same was seized under the Customs Act, 1962.

The seized fins were examined by Wildlife Crime Control Bureau authorities and they certified that they were Shark fins. Since they appeared to be processed there was a probability that the fins belong to a CITES listed species.

As the export of shark fins was prohibited as per the Foreign Trade Policy, the fins worth Rs eight lakh were seized under the provisions of Customs Act read with FT (D and R). The passenger was arrested and further investigation is under way.