well a couple of fish smugglers did till they were caught, trying to smuggle £300,000 worth of live fish into Britain, I have not been fishing in the UK for at least 12 years or more, but even then there was a trade in smuggling carp tench and other fish from the continent, it appears the trade still has not been stamped out, environment officers swooped as they arrived at Dover with their haul of French carp destined for the black market,
and last night senior officials warned the problem was growing as gangsters get out of risky drug smuggling and turn to fish instead, with anglers prepared to pay hundreds of pounds a year to catch whoppers, crooked fishery owners are offering up to £20,000 for just one 50lb carp,
Fish Health Inspectorate officer Stuart Katon said yesterday: "We are receiving an increasing amount of intelligence to suggest links to major organised criminality, profits are high and risks relatively low so many criminals are shifting away from riskier crimes like importing drugs, people or cigarettes, smugglers know that if they are caught with £300,000 of drugs they can expect a long prison sentence, but with illegally-imported fish the likely outcome is a fine or maximum two years' jail."
in case you think this is an isolated case have a look here, as for sentencing the above comments have a point about the risk of being caught with a drugs haul, long time inside, to a case of being caught with 45 carp weighing between 24 to 35 lbs. each the sentence was a £7,200 fine for costs with 150 hours community service, it may seem like a small problem but for fisheries, not only ornamental, but commercial like salmon and trout rearing, the problems of importing a contagious deadly fish disease is very real indeed.
Friday, 21 May 2010
Do Not Mess With Fish 96,
and you thought fish were fun!
well a couple of fish smugglers did till they were caught, trying to smuggle £300,000 worth of live fish into Britain, I have not been fishing in the UK for at least 12 years or more, but even then there was a trade in smuggling carp tench and other fish from the continent, it appears the trade still has not been stamped out, environment officers swooped as they arrived at Dover with their haul of French carp destined for the black market,
and last night senior officials warned the problem was growing as gangsters get out of risky drug smuggling and turn to fish instead, with anglers prepared to pay hundreds of pounds a year to catch whoppers, crooked fishery owners are offering up to £20,000 for just one 50lb carp,
Fish Health Inspectorate officer Stuart Katon said yesterday: "We are receiving an increasing amount of intelligence to suggest links to major organised criminality, profits are high and risks relatively low so many criminals are shifting away from riskier crimes like importing drugs, people or cigarettes, smugglers know that if they are caught with £300,000 of drugs they can expect a long prison sentence, but with illegally-imported fish the likely outcome is a fine or maximum two years' jail."
in case you think this is an isolated case have a look here, as for sentencing the above comments have a point about the risk of being caught with a drugs haul, long time inside, to a case of being caught with 45 carp weighing between 24 to 35 lbs. each the sentence was a £7,200 fine for costs with 150 hours community service, it may seem like a small problem but for fisheries, not only ornamental, but commercial like salmon and trout rearing, the problems of importing a contagious deadly fish disease is very real indeed.
well a couple of fish smugglers did till they were caught, trying to smuggle £300,000 worth of live fish into Britain, I have not been fishing in the UK for at least 12 years or more, but even then there was a trade in smuggling carp tench and other fish from the continent, it appears the trade still has not been stamped out, environment officers swooped as they arrived at Dover with their haul of French carp destined for the black market,
and last night senior officials warned the problem was growing as gangsters get out of risky drug smuggling and turn to fish instead, with anglers prepared to pay hundreds of pounds a year to catch whoppers, crooked fishery owners are offering up to £20,000 for just one 50lb carp,
Fish Health Inspectorate officer Stuart Katon said yesterday: "We are receiving an increasing amount of intelligence to suggest links to major organised criminality, profits are high and risks relatively low so many criminals are shifting away from riskier crimes like importing drugs, people or cigarettes, smugglers know that if they are caught with £300,000 of drugs they can expect a long prison sentence, but with illegally-imported fish the likely outcome is a fine or maximum two years' jail."
in case you think this is an isolated case have a look here, as for sentencing the above comments have a point about the risk of being caught with a drugs haul, long time inside, to a case of being caught with 45 carp weighing between 24 to 35 lbs. each the sentence was a £7,200 fine for costs with 150 hours community service, it may seem like a small problem but for fisheries, not only ornamental, but commercial like salmon and trout rearing, the problems of importing a contagious deadly fish disease is very real indeed.
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