23 February 2008
Ras Al Khaimah: A shipment of rotten fish being smuggled to Al Muaireed Fish Market was intercepted by authorities on Friday.
The smugglers, all Asian, were summoned to the municipality, which announced it would take serious legal measures against them.
The group of Asian fish traders tried smuggle tens of kilograms of rotten fish to the fish benches of the market, without passing their fish through the official channels where the market's resident inspectors look at it.
The authorities seized their health cards and initiated an investigation into the violators.
Sources at the municipality said some of these violators will be referred to the police.
A senior municipal official said that the traders tried to smuggle rotten fish in the early hours, assuming that there will be no inspection and that they had a free hand to get the fish into one of the emirate's key fish markets.
Once the fish was seized, it was instantly destroyed, said the official, adding that the shipment was discovered only moments before reaching the benches to be displayed for customers.
The official explained that the decomposing fish was imported from outside the UAE, arriving to a neighbouring emirate where later it was transported in pickups to Al Muaireed Fish Market. The traders knew their shipment was rotten but did not want to lose it and tried to get rid of it.
The traders did not did not transport the fish in a refrigerated vehicle. The long hours the fish remained in the pickups made the bad situation of the already rotten fish even worse.
The municipal official said the rotten fish is locally know as Yowaf and is in demand by Asian communities. He stressed the normal colour of fresh fish is white, but the yellow colour was the main indicator to the inspectors that the fish was rotten.
By Nasouh Nazzal
Gulf News 2008. All rights reserved.
