Scores of sun-baked seahorses seized in Marbella

FIVE men have been arrested for allegedly attempting to deal in endangered species after being caught with 1,424 dessicated seahorses. 

The Guardia Civil’s Seprona nature protection branch received a tip-off that a transaction was to be carried out at Marbella bus station and officers arrested the three Spaniards and two Portuguese men after finding them in possession of 7.12 kilos of seahorses. 

Dried seahorses are much used in traditional medicine in China, where the batch was headed, and the deal would have been done for almost €10,000.

The seahorses, listed as endangered species and included in the List of Wild Species Under Special Protection, were handed over to Aula del Mar marine association for cataloguing.