Thai Customs officials seized more 856 pieces of protected corals, sea anemones giant clams cowries and sea fans that were being smuggled from Indonesia. The seized cargo was estimated at about $60,000 (that’s a lot of frags) and weighed about 300kg. The items were found by customs officials during a Thai Airways International warehouse search. Customs Department deputy director-general Kornsiri Pinnarut reported that Siriporn Umphu imported the items from Indonesia on March 1st, having falsely marked them as ornamental fish. Siriporn will now have to answer to the police after being charged with providing false information on imports; a violation of the 1992 Wildlife Preservation and Protection Act.

Since October of 2009, the Customs Department has seized items worth more then $4,000,000.

[mcot.net]

Felicia has been keeping aquariums since the early 90s and has a keen interest in taxonomy, aquaculture, and seahorses. she is the former Liveaquaria Diver's Den photographer and now works for Philadelphia area's largest aquarium specialty store The Hidden Reef.