Tuesday, 4. February 2003
Topic: - on February 4, 2003 at 11:33:00 AM CET
Caviar smuggler jailed
A Russian man has been sentenced to 30 months in prison for smuggling 98 pounds (44 kg) of caviar into the United States without the required permits, federal prosecutors say.
Mikhail Ivanovich Kovtun, 59, of Moscow, was arrested at Miami airport in August 2001 with two other passengers who had tins of sturgeon roe hidden in their suitcases. In November 2002, a federal court jury convicted him of violating the Endangered Species Act and lying on his customs declaration, which said he carried no food, wildlife products or commercial goods.
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