MOSCOW: Customs officers carrying out an anti-smuggling operation in Russia’s Far East came across a grisly discovery – 525 bear paws headed for China.
Apart from the bear paws, 3,978 mink furs, 2.4 kilograms of jade, and a 4-kilogram fragment of mammoth tusk were among the contraband seized on Monday.
The total value of the undeclared goods is estimated at around $620.000. The cargo, which was sealed in big bags with labels written in Chinese, was seized from a boat in Russia’s Khabarovsk Region. The owner of the vessel has been charged with two counts of smuggling.
The perpetrator confessed that the cargo was to be transported from Khabarovsk to Tongjiang city in the Heilongjiang province of China to be sold on the black market.
Bear paws are considered a delicacy in Chinese restaurants, where they are often added to soups or barbecued. Some dishes containing them can cost up to $1000. According to experts, the paws from the smuggled load belonged to both Brown and Himalayan bears. Himalayan bears are on the critically endangered list, as their population is dramatically decreasing.
