Prague, Oct 17 (CTK) – Customs officers at Prague’s Vaclav Havel International Airport seized a number of illegal exotic souvenirs transported by tourists this summer, including sea corals and traditional Chinese medicine products, their spokeswoman Sarka Miskovska told CTK on Tuesday.
Thirty-five cases of such illegal imports were registered in the summer season from May to September, which is an 18-percent year-on-year increase.
The seized items included 273 pieces of dead sea corals and 384 products of traditional Chinese medicine such as preparations containing the Siberian musk deer moschus, pythons’ fat and preparations made of turtle shells, the Saiga antelope’s horns and the costus plant.
By importing such souvenirs, people violate the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
The customs authority have forwarded the cases to the Czech environmental inspection hat may impose fines.
