Illegal shipment of carp seized

Koi carp can be worth thousands of pounds each

A lorry carrying 263 live carp has been seized by government fisheries inspectors at Folkestone.

The fish, valued at more than £40,000, had been transported through the Channel Tunnel in tanks.

They were destroyed to prevent the risk of importing disease.

Two men have been reported to the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and legal action is being considered.

Disease threat

Kent Police, customs officers and fish health inspectors from the government's Centre for Environment Fisheries and Aquaculture Science worked together to track and block the attempt to bring the fish into Britain.

The carp would have gone to stock freshwater fisheries.

Fisheries Minister Elliot Morley said: "Fish health inspectors have a vital role to play in helping to prevent the spread of serious fish disease.

"Illegal imports of live fish pose one of the biggest threats of disease to our indigenous stocks."

The fish, weighing between 10 pounds and 45 pounds each, were destroyed to prevent the risk of any potential disease spreading and affecting fish stocks in the UK.