Aquatic items seized at Thai-Cambodian border

SA KAEO, THAILAND, September 8 (TNA) - Corals, sea anemones and other ornamental fish have been seized by Thai immigration police in the eastern Sa Kaeo Province bordering Cambodia. In a joint operation on Thursday, Sa Kaeo's Deputy Immigration Police Commander Police Lieutenant Colonel Benjapol Rodsawad worked together with local army rangers to search a push cart from Cambodia’s Poi Pet area, after a Cambodian man left the cart and ran away, and found four styrofoam boxes containing 112 corals, sea anemones packed with ice, as well as dozens items of crayfish, goldfish, neon fish and orange guppy with no import and rule of origin documents. The Thai officers then seized the aquatic items and brought them to the immigration office at the Klong Luek Permanent Border Checkpoint in Aranyaprathep District. According to the officers, corals and crayfish cannot be imported into Thailand and they are protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), while other fish species can be imported with an official permission. The corals are believed to come from the waters of the neighboring country and they have been sent to a marine conservation center in neighbouring Trat Province for further probe. (TNA)