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Customs officers from the Ports and Maritime Command yesterday (July 9) made a record seizure of endangered turtles and tortoises since 2001.

The seizure - comprising 10 277 turtles and tortoises from an inbound container which had arrived from Malaysia - was worth about $1.36 million.

While conducting cargo examination of an inbound container declared to be containing 1 562 cartons of watermelons from Malaysia, Customs officers found 499 cartons of watermelons at the front part of the container.

Further Customs examination revealed that the watermelons were used as camouflage for the unmanifested cargo of endangered species of turtles and tortoises.

All of the animals inside were found dead, except four of the tortoises were still alive.

A spokesman for the Customs and Excise Department said today (July 10), "So far, no person has been arrested and the case handed over to the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department for further investigation."

He reiterated that under the Animals and Plants (Protection of Endangered Species) Ordinance, any person bringing into Hong Kong any endangered species without a licence is liable to prosecution. The maximum penalty is a fine of $5 million and 2 years' imprisonment.

End/Thursday, July 10, 2003

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