THREE boxes of seahorses amounting to an estimated P1.2 million were seized by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) and Aviation Security Group at Bacolod-Silay Airport in Negros Occidental Saturday.
Quarantine officer Arnel Armenteros, in an interview with ABS-CBN, said they noticed the items inside the boxes at the cargo area of an airline company.
The boxes containing seahorses weighing 58 grams were supposed to be sent to Manila by a Chinese businessman.
The businessman instructed a man to bring the boxes, whom he claimed contained dried fish, to the airport.
The man did not know that it contained seahorses.
Armenteros said these seahorses which are considered endangered species were reportedly illegally caught in the waters of northern Negros.
They will probably use it for food or as medicine, he added.
Meanwhile, BFAR Regional Director Remia Aparri said the seahorses were still in the custody of BFAR in Bacolod City.
She has yet to get details about the said confiscation.
But she warned those who illegally catch aquatic resources that they will be liable for violation of Republic Act 10564 or the Philippine Fisheries Code of 1998.
