Smugglers Who Tried to Transport Water Species into China Were Sentenced to Jail

As the Department of Economic Investigations of the Committee for Financial Monitoring of Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Finance reported that the Almaty court has sentenced several smugglers of biological resources to jail.

According to the department, the criminal group included individuals from both China and Kazakhstan. They tried to smuggle aquatic crustaceans with the total value of 470 million tenge ($1.1 million).

The criminals were intercepted by law enforcement officials during a raid. The smugglers’ vehicle was loaded with 400 tons of crustaceans that they tried to transport from the country. 

All four defendants were found guilty of economic smuggling, the creation and management of an organized crime group, and illegal entrepreneurship and were sentenced to prison for 8 to10 years.

The Artemia salina crustaceans are native to saline lakes and ponds. Artemia cysts are commonly used in fish farming, poultry farming, pharmacology and cosmetology.