PHOTOS: Smoked dolphins seized as MCE swoops on Axim fishmongers

In Accra, before authorities got to Osu where fishes washed ashore a week ago to warn against consuming the fishes, many people had collected the animals and used their booty for different meals.

Then reports emerged that dolphins had also washed ashore in parts of the Western Region, specifically in Axim.

A Thursday, April 8, swoop by the Nzema East Municipal Chief Executive, Frank Okpenyen, led to the confiscation of smoked dolphins in parts of Axim where fishmongers were operating.

The swoop led by the police and officials of the Food and Drugs Authority, FDA, came on the back of a report by Accra-based Citi FM; which showed fishmongers briskly smoking the giant mammals.

When the enforcement team arrived, they found a basket full of already smoked dolphins together with about 20 dead dolphins, a Citi News report said.

The Assembly had in a statement disclosed that about 200 dolphins are believed to have washed ashore with only 68 retrieved so far. The DCE is seen supervising the loading of the smoked consignment into a truck as onlookers stood by.

“Out of these (68), 30 were alive and 38 were dead. The team released the live dolphins back to the ocean and buried the dead ones at the Assembly’s refuse disposal site. The remaining 132 washed-ashore fishes are in the hands of the residents,” the statement by the Assembly added.

Below are some pictures from the seizure: