MOSCOW, July 22 (Xinhua) -- The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) said Wednesday it had suppressed the activities of an international group of black caviar poachers.

It said in a statement that 11 active members of the group "involved in the illegal circulation of aquatic biological resources belonging to species listed in the Red Book of the Russian Federation" were detained, and six of them were transferred to Moscow from the Republic of Dagestan located on the Caspian Sea coast.

During the detention and 12 searches carried out in the homes of the detainees and at Moscow's trading sites, more than 100 kg of poached products, presumably black caviar of sturgeon breeds, were seized, as well as money proceeding from the sale of these products, bank cards and mobile telephones used in mutual settlements, as well as accounting documents, the statement said.

Searches and investigative actions are continuing, it added.

The harvest and sale of black caviar, as well as wild sturgeon fishing in the Caspian Sea, were banned in Russia in the early 2000s, which has led to the development of aquaculture as an economically viable means of commercial caviar production in the country. Enditem

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