Coast Guard doing Boarder Patrol
The Far Eastern transportation prosecutor’s office has launched an investigation into a case of marine resources contraband which was carried out with the assistance of an officer from the Federal Border Guard Service. The investigation revealed that an organized crime group was operating in Primorye in 2005-2007. The group involved the crew members of the ship ‘Gumanny’ and the owners of the Eastern Fishery Corporation, which possessed the vessel, a press statement from the general prosecutor’s branch for the Far Eastern region reported on Tuesday. Investigators say that the group illegally passed crab catches from Russia to ports in South Korea. The investigators assume that some 47,000 tons of this valuable seafood were transported abroad by the group’s members. An officer working for the Federal Border Guard Service assisted the poachers by providing information about the location of border guard patrol vessels, thus aiding them in escaping inspection of their vessel. The officer has been put under arrest while the investigation into the case continues. In a similar case this May owners of three crab poaching vessels and the border guards who assisted them in maneuvering away from patrol boats were arrested in Primorye. The criminal organization used an identical scheme to sell poached crab to South Korea.