JAKARTA, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) -- Indonesian customs office officials have foiled an illegal shipment of rare lobster seeds offshore from a sea port in Bali resort island and nabbed an alleged smuggler, a senior official said on Wednesday.
The alleged smuggler was arrested for trying to smuggle a total of 17,192 rare lobster seeds, comprising 529 seeds of pearl lobster and 16,663 seeds of sand lobster.
All of the species are protected by the Indonesian government, head of the customs office in Bali Island Himawan Indarjono said.
"AP (The suspect) was arrested while picking up the species from a truck and planned to send the species to abroad with a plane," Himawan said.
The smuggler placed the lobster seeds inside a container with word "Paper Cup", pretending that those are legal products, he said.
The head of customs office said that the lobster seeds were valued at 182,326 U.S. dollars, a huge amount according to local standard, media reported.
Such huge value has partly factored to the rampant attempted smuggling of the species from Indonesia's water. In June, the police in East Java province foiled an attempted smuggling of 37,000 seeds of pearl lobster and sand lobster, and arrested seven smugglers.
Indonesia is known as one of the most species-rich country as its vast maritime territory is home to numerous species.
