Essex man pleads guilty to selling CITES listed Arowana fish

Arowana Fish
The Asian Arowana is an endangered species which is given the highest level of protection by CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. This means that this species can only be sold legally if a licence to permit this has been issued by the Animal Health department of DEFRA. Mr Low had licences permitting him to import the fish but these did not permit sale.

These offences were uncovered after enquiries by HM Revenue and Customs officers showed that Mr Low had imported a large number of fish over two years from Singapore, which amounted to a commercial operation.

In October 2007 police officers from Redbridge Borough, assisted by the Metropolitan Police Wildlife Crime Unit, and the national Wildlife Crime Unit, executed a search warrant at Mr Low's home, and inside they found several tanks holding some 20 fish.

No Licence to sell the fish
Mr Low was arrested and during his interview stated that he had the licences required to import the fish but also admitted that he did not have the licences required to permit them to be sold. Low stated that he had made about seven thousand pounds from the sale of Arowana fish.

Upon examination of computers that were seized, the scale of this operation became evident, with over 600 e-mails between Mr Low and customers, who had paid between £350 and £1200 per fish. There were also several advertisements offering these fish for sale.

PC Tony Leader, the Wildlife Crime Officer for Redbridge, said, "This case shows that strong trade controls are in place to protect endangered species and the police will take action against anyone trading illegally. Although the sale of captive-bred Arowana can be licensed, illegal trade threatens the species survival."

He also stated that The World Conservation Union considers the Arowana to be at very high risk of extinction in the wild.

Operation Charm
This case is the latest in Operation Charm, the Met's ongoing initiative against the illegal trade in endangered species in London. Since the launch of Operation Charm in 1995, Metropolitan Police officers have seized more than 30,000 endangered species products and live animals in London.

In 2006 Operation Charm was re-launched as a partnership between the Metropolitan Police, the Greater London Authority, WWF, the International Fund for Animal Welfare, the Active Conservation Awareness Programme of WildAid and the David Shepherd Conservation Foundation.

Operation Charm uses a combination of enforcement and awareness-raising initiatives to reduce consumer demand for endangered species and prevent illegal trade.