Police swoop on black caviar
2007-08-27 14:28
Moscow - Police in Russia have confiscated nearly two tons of black caviar worth €1.5m from stores in the Moscow region suspected of trading illegally in the delicacy.
In a statement on its website, the interior ministry said it had carried out "large-scale" raids in the Russian capital and surrounding areas over suspected illegally poached caviar and sturgeon fish.
An unnamed ministry source quoted by the Kommersant newspaper on Monday said the raids - conducted over two weeks in August - involved 137 police agents who targeted "two of the largest supermarket chains in the capital".
The names of the firms targeted were not disclosed.
The raids resulted in the seizure of 1 833kg of black caviar from sturgeon, including 466kg of high-grade Sevruga caviar, the interior ministry said.
The famed black Beluga caviar comes from the Beluga sturgeon, an ancient fish native to the Caspian Sea that is considered by experts to be threatened with extinction.