South African authorities have arrested a Chinese national and two Zimbabweans for allegedly poaching abalone, a marine delicacy highly sought after in parts of Asia. The arrests took place on Sunday in what police described as one of the largest abalone busts in recent years in the Western Cape province.
The suspects, a 53-year-old Chinese national and two Zimbabweans aged 28 and 31, were detained following a police tip-off. Officers discovered a significant quantity of abalone being processed at a large facility, leading to the confiscation of 11,485 wet and 15,200 dry abalones, alongside equipment valued at over 10.3 million rand (approximately $550,000).
The poached abalone, a chewy sea snail with a distinct salty flavour, is considered a luxury delicacy in many parts of East Asia, where it is often served at banquets and weddings.
Police in the Western Cape said the operation is part of a wider effort to crack down on the illegal trade and depletion of marine resources. In a separate incident in the same province, authorities also discovered 2,505 abalones at an abandoned location.
Last month, police arrested a South African man in possession of over 13,000 abalones, worth more than one million rand ($55,000).
According to the wildlife monitoring network TRAFFIC, illegal abalone poaching has nearly doubled in the past decade, with Chinese criminal syndicates often linked to trafficking operations.