Palau Horizon tried to get information from Division of Customs Chief John Tarkong but he was off in the office and his deputy referred us to BRCT but the office also refused to give the report as they are not in authority to give information. They referred us again to Vice President and Finance Minister Kerai Mariur as he is the only one who could speak on the matter.
Palau Horizon then tried to contract Vice President Mariur and he said that he have not yet received the report.
Customs personnel last week reportedly confiscated sea cucumbers at the airport that were intended for export.
According to Island Times’ report, Aimeliik Gov. Leilani Reklai disclosed that Customs was supposed to meet with her as regards to the incident as they are doing an investigation. However, the meeting did not push through because the Customs personnel doing the investigation instructed to stop the investigation.
Gov. Reklai said that currently there is no permit that allows the collection of sea cucumbers for export or a designated farm for sea cucumber.
The permit issued by the Ministry of Natural Resources Environment and Tourism is for research only. However there are rumors that there are some individuals who were able to send abroad sea cucumbers.
The Gov doubts on how some individuals were able to export over three tons of dried sea cucumber when regulations do not allow them to do so. Since locals cannot send sea cucumber to Guam or Hawaii but reportedly there were non- citizens have been allowed to send out tons of sea cucumber to Korea and China.
//
