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Associated Press

Charges against a father-son partnership for allegedly smuggling more than US$17 million worth of sea cucumbers into the United States then exporting them to Asia sheds light on a growing and lucrative illegal cross-border trade.
David Mayorquin and his father, Ramon Torres Mayorquin, are accused of a scheme to buy the illegally harvested animals from poachers in Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula, pay for them under fake names and underestimate their weight and value to inspectors at San Diego’s Otay Mesa border crossing, across from Tijuana, Mexico.

From San Diego, they allegedly shipped the product to Asia, including China, where they are delicacies in Chinese dishes, prized for medicinal value and considered an aphrodisiac.
Border inspectors have spotted smuggled Mexican sea cucumbers for years, but the charges against the Mayorquins and their family business, Blessings Inc. of Tucson, Arizona, are striking for the multi-tonne shipments. Authorities say they sell for US$300 to US$500 a kilogram in Asia, helping explain the draw for poachers and smugglers.

David Mayorquin, who is listed as the company’s chief executive officer in public records, allegedly bought US$13 million worth of sea cucumbers, knowing that they were harvested without a permit or out of season, and they sold for US$17.5 million. The indictment, filed on Wednesday in federal court in San Diego, lists transactions from January 2010 to July 2012.
US Homeland Security Investigations launched a probe in 2012 after company transactions raised suspicions, said James Plitt, deputy special agent in charge in San Diego. The investigators examined financial and shipping records.
“These cases are very document-intensive,” Plitt said. “The volume of documents that have to pulled together and corroborated is significant.”
Investigators found emails that allegedly show the family communicating with others about the illegal purchases, Homeland Security Investigations said.
“I hope you’re aware that you are asking for 17 tonnes and we have no papers for that amount since Carlos’ entire product is without invoice,” a supplier wrote David Mayorquin in 2011, which is mentioned in the indictment. “Nearly 10 tonnes would be travelling without papers.”
The defendants also bribed Mexican officials, prosecutors say. One email listed in the indictment shows Marroquin being asked to contribute US$32,000 for payoffs.

Court documents do not list an attorney for the Mayorquins or the company, which was also charged. A woman who answered the phone at Blessings on Friday said the company had no comment and hung up.
Sea cucumbers, which are shaped like cucumbers with small feet and measure up to 1.8 metres, are echinoderms, a family that includes starfish and sea urchin. They are served dried or fresh and often braised with fish, vegetables and traditional Chinese sauces. They are sought to treat join pain, prevent cancer and serve as anti-inflammatory medicine.
Harvesting sea cucumbers is permitted in the United States and many parts of the world, but with limited quantities and only during high season.

Blessings was licensed with the US Fish and Wildlife Service to import and export sea cucumber, according to the indictment.
Border inspectors in San Diego screened three large – and legal – commercial hauls in the last week alone, said Erin Dean, resident agent in charge of Fish and Wildlife’s Southern California office. Prosecutors have also fielded a growing load of smuggling cases, which typically involve hiding the animals in vehicles or on bodies, she said.
Totoaba fish, whose dried bladders sell for thousands of dollars to Chinese traders, are also commonly smuggled from Mexico along California’s border. Vaquita porpoises are often caught in the nets, causing their population to drop to about 30.


The sea cucumber smuggling scheme that made US family millions by shipping them to Asia

A sea cucumber from the tide pools at Cabrillo Beach in the San Pedro section of Los Angeles. Photo: AP

Warning, low res image! This image may be republished, A black sea cucumber is found at Lung Mei in Tai Po

This photograph shows sea cucumbers at Tung Hing Tai Kee seafood store on Des Voeux Road West, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong. 18APR17 SCMP / David Wong