- Customs officers found 270 fish bladders inside a commercial shipment of frozen fish fillets.
- DNA testing found that the bladders came from an endangered fish species, Totoaba.
Customs officers seized 242 pounds of swim bladders that had been concealed inside a commercial shipment of frozen fish fillets, Customs and Border Protection said in a statement.
The bladders, which allow fish to control their buoyancy, are delicacies and are considered to have medicinal properties in Traditional Chinese Medicine. CBP estimated that the 270 bladders seized were worth $2.7 million.
The seizure occurred in April, but CBP announced the news last week, noting that DNA testing had determined the bladders belonged to the endangered species Totoaba macdonaldi, native to the Gulf of California in Mexico, according to CBP.
Totoaba are protected under the Endangered Species Act in the US and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
"This seizure is thought to be the second largest seizure of its kind in the US and the largest Totoaba seizure in Arizona, to date," CBP's statement said.
In 2019, Quartz reported that the Totoaba market is so lucrative that US authorities believe members of the Sinaloa cartel have gotten involved.
Totoaba swim bladders can sell for $20,000 to $80,000 per kilogram, "rivaling the price of gold and cocaine," according to a 2019 search warrant affidavit in another Totoaba smuggling case. The affidavit said US authorities received information in May of 2019 from a non-government organization operating in the Sea of Cortez that Sinaloa cartel members had infiltrated the Totoaba trade.
CBP said the bladders were discovered at the Mariposa trade facility in Arizona, and officers handed them over to the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
CBP said the US Fish and Wildlife Service and Homeland Security Investigations are investigating the smuggling attempt and could file charges.