Near Khabarovsk, law enforcement officers stopped a woman who was transporting an enormous load of black caviar, totaling about 160 kilograms, according to the press office of the regional department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia.
The incident occurred on the Nikolaevsk-on-Umur-Selikhino highway when traffic police halted an SUV to verify documents. The 38-year-old driver, a resident of Komsomolsk-on-Amur, complied with the stop and allowed the officers to inspect the trunk of the vehicle.
Inside, the trunk contained numerous boxes arranged in neat stacks. The containers were plastic, with most having a half-liter capacity, complemented by two smaller 0.25-liter vessels. Each container held fish caviar from the sturgeon family, securely packed for transport. The total weight of this valuable cargo was approximately 160 kilograms, marking a substantial seizure of illicit product.
According to the department, the driver stated she was to deliver the boxes at the request of a friend and claimed she did not know what the containers contained. She further explained that she had purchased the goods from unknown individuals on the roadside, raising questions about the provenance and legality of the cargo.
The woman was detained on suspicion of illegal circulation of aquatic biological resources. Investigators opened a criminal case under Part 3 of Article 258.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, and work commenced to uncover the complete picture of the incident. Authorities are examining possible accomplices and any other segments of criminal activity related to the case.
In a separate but related development, a man with a prior conviction for poaching in Siberia was noted to have previously taken fish and around 2 kilograms of caviar valued at roughly half a million rubles. This background information underscores concerns about organized illegal activities surrounding valuable sturgeon products and highlights ongoing enforcement efforts to disrupt such networks.