Two people who smuggled more than 300 swim bladders of the protected drum fish have been sentenced and fined by Shanghai No. 3 Intermediate People’s Court.

According to prosecutors, this is the city’s first swim bladder smuggling case.

Prosecutors said the pair were apprehended at Pudong International Airport on their arrival from Mexico in February last year. In their luggage, customs officers found 351 drum fish swim bladders.

The drum fish from the Gulf of California is a CITES protected species.

The bladders of the drum fish are believed in some quarters to prevent aging and cancer. The swim bladders were worth more than 2 million yuan (US$290,000).

One of the smugglers received an eight-year sentence and was fined 200,000 yuan. The second received a seven-year sentence and was fined 100,000 yuan.