HOKKAIDO (TR) – The Otaru Coast Guard has arrested seven males for smuggling an enormous haul of poached sea cucumbers right into a Hokkaido port below the quilt of darkness, reviews the Yomiuri Shimbun (Sep. 3).
The suspects, whose ages vary from 27 to 52 and embrace a 48-year-old unemployed Otaru resident, are accused of illegally harvesting roughly 475 kilograms of sea cucumbers off the coast of the town’s Shukutsu space.
The poaching allegedly passed off between 6:55 p.m. on Monday and 12:35 a.m. the next morning.
The illicit operation unraveled early Tuesday when Coast Guard officers on a routine patrol noticed the lads performing suspiciously at Otaru Port in Arihorocho. The crew was caught within the act of transferring the unlawful catch from an unlit boat right into a ready station wagon.
Following their arrest on Tuesday, authorities revealed that the syndicate had utilized unauthorized diving tools throughout their nighttime raid.
The subsequent day, the Otaru Coast Guard despatched the seven males to the Otaru Branch of the Sapporo District Public Prosecutors Office. They face expenses of violating the Fishery Act, particularly for the unauthorized harvesting of designated aquatic animals and working with out a allow.