Ecuador: Shark Fin Traffickers Arrested

Ecuadoran Internal Affairs Minister Jose Serrano reported that after a six week investigation, a criminal ring comprised of former prisoners, most of them Chinese, dedicated to the trafficking of sharp fins to Asia had been uncovered and its members arrested. The trafficking of shark fins, used in Asian cooking, was a lucrative business; in Ecuador the fins fetch US$10 to US$60 and internationally two to three times as much. Despite a ban, last year 30,000 sharks were captured and sacrified for their fins. teleSUR