Confiscated abalone re-exported

RAY SMUTS MALAYSIA and South Africa have joined forces to detect and re-ship two containers of abalone (perlemoen), illegally exported from Cape Town a month ago. The seven-ton consignment of fresh and dried abalone – a great delicacy in the East – is worth around R11 million. It was described in export documentation as frozen pilchards. The vessel was in Malaysian waters, en route to Hong Kong, when the containers were retrieved. This latest confiscation, expected to be followed within the next few weeks by the retrieval of a further two containers of the protected marine resource, comes after the September arrest of two people in possession of eight tons of illegal abalone at a cold store on the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront. Two South African companies are suspected of being linked to the latest operation but no arrests have yet been made.