AlQa'dah 8, 1432, Oct 6, 2011, SPA -- Russian border troops confiscated more than three tons of red caviar that smugglers had planned to transport to market by military helicopter, dpa cited the Interfax news agency as reporting on Thursday. The bust took place in Russia's Kamchatka peninsula, on the Pacific Ocean. Two men were detained after border troops tracked a hired Mi-8 helicopter to a remote beach in central Kamchatka and found 3.2 tons of salmon roe packed into 125 plastic containers ready for loading onto the aircraft, the report said. The caviar if sold tinned in Moscow markets would fetch between 1.2 and 1.5 million dollars, depending on quality. A typical female salmon carries some two to three per cent of its weight in roe, according to US government studies. The Kamchatka peninsula with its pristine rivers and minimal human settlement is a key spawning ground for Pacific salmon. Rugged terrain and long distances from large population centres make the Kamchatka region difficult for police to patrol and vulnerable to illegal fishing. Russia's Far Eastern territories in recent months have seen record numbers of salmon catches. Biologists have said salmon numbers are exceptionally high because of unseasonally warm sea water.
