Two people have been arrested on the southern island of Crete for allegedly stealing over a ton of fish from an experimental farm run by Greece’s leading marine research institute, authorities said Monday.
A Coast Guard statement said the two men were taken into custody by Coast Guard personnel before dawn, despite the one’s efforts to escape by diving into the water and swimming away.
About 210 kilograms of sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) and sea bream (Sparus aurata) were found on a boat abandoned on the scene of the theft in Souda Bay by the suspects. Authorities believe the two men are behind a number of previous heists at the pilot aquaculture sea cages farm operated since 2000 by the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research.
More than 860 kilos of fish, as well as cameras and other equipment went missing from the farm in these thefts.
The Coast Guard said the fish stolen Monday were worth more than €10,000. They will be donated to local charities.
