Abalone poachers off the western cape of South Africa. The smuggling of the giant sea snail - known as abalone - is being linked to the Chinese Triads and international drug gangs - who capture the fish from the deep and then smuggle it into China and Hong Kong where it is eaten as a delicacy. BBC

By Karen Allen
29 December 2010 The trade in exotic shellfish is part of a trade which is earning criminals some $70m a year. The smuggling of the giant sea snail – known as abalone – is being linked to the Chinese Triads and international drug gangs – who capture the fish from the deep and then smuggle it into China and Hong Kong where it is eaten as a delicacy.

On the trail of the men who hunt exotic shellfish and trade it illegally