Italian police have impounded an amount of black caviar worth around €1 million. According to investigators, the caviar had been brought into the country from Russia and Ukraine and sold to various shops and restaurants.
The total quantity of the impounded delicacy is 160 kilograms. Obtaining roe from sturgeon has been banned by a UN watchdog after overfishing and poaching led to worries of extinction. Each of the five Caspian Sea countries, including Russia, have a specific quota of caviar stipulating the quantity allowed to be exported. The delicacy was delivered without appropriate certificates and stored in unsatisfactory conditions and could be detrimental to health. More then sixty people are being questioned by the Italian police in connection with the incident.