A HONG Kong-bound shipment containing four tonnes of cargo suspected to be shark fins was offloaded in Malaysia after Indian authorities issued an order to intercept the goods, reported The Times of India.

The cargo left Chennai, India, last week, and had been declared as “dried ray skin”.

However, officers at the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) learnt the cargo was instead shark fins and ordered for the cargo to be rerouted to Malaysia instead, said the report.

In 2015, India banned the export of shark fins.

DRI, which had over the weekend seized 8 tonnes of shark fins in Gujerat, said it will seek information from customs authorities in Hong Kong regarding the consignment.

“We want to know the consignee and the goods declared,” an official was quoted as saying in the report.

Despite public outcry over the act of shark finning, where live sharks have their fins sliced off before they are thrown back into the sea to die slowly, shark fin dishes are still considered a delicacy, especially in Asia. – September 5, 2018.