4 ms·

> The state and federal government had spent millions of dollars to protect a fish stocking operation that costs Missouri $100,000 a year. Seems like they coul

• gwern 8y ago
  They obviously did not do it just to save the cost of restocking a few paddlefish. As the article says repeatedly, they thought they were infiltrating an international mafia of endangered species poaching, money laundering, smuggling, international crime and transnational mafia likely with links to terrorism or intelligence agencies, which might be involved in anything from drugs to ivory smuggling.
  • lightbyte 8y ago
    Yeah and it turned out that they were delusional and people just wanted caviar to eat it >Most of the men were buying female paddlefish, processing knockoff caviar and just … eating it. Illegal, yes. But the plot of a Russian mafia thriller? Hardly. >If the government did not realize its miscalculation, at least some officers must have on March 13, 2013, at 7 a.m. Central time, when 125 state and federal agents descended on poachers across four time zones to make arrests. >During an interrogation, one poacher was confused. The caviar was for his family to give guests when they came over. >“Why would I want to sell it?” he asked. >“To make money,” an agent suggested. >“Heck, no!” >Of the 112 defendants tagged with state or federal violations, investigators observed only Petr Babenko, the owner of a gourmet store in Vineland, New Jersey, intending to sell the stuff. He was prosecuted, convicted, and given probation. The government seized his Mercedes van. >To Hitchings, it doesn’t matter. Other men were undoubtedly selling, he said
    • stefs 8y ago
      that's hindsight, though. enforcing the law is, i guess, rarely cost effective in the short run.