
A team of Israel Police and Border Police officers discovered on Tuesday night in Jerusalem's Old City a wagon of merchandise in the Muslim Quarter.
The wagon belonged to an Old City resident, and was filled with cartons from which a tail looking suspiciously like a shark's peeked out.
The police officers stopped the owner and asked him to remove the cartons covering the item.
To their amazement, the policemen discovered four sharks, apparently on their way to the market.
Sharks are an endangered species, and it is forbidden to kill them. A shark which is caught in a fisherman's net must be returned immediately to the water.
The officers detained the suspect for questioning, and immediately summoned the Nature and Parks Authority, who began an investigation to find out where the sharks came from.
According to an Israel Police spokesman, seeing a shark is a very unusual event.
"The awareness of the police and Border Police officers in a highly congested area had led more than once to the identification and arrest of suspects, as well as the discovery of incidences such as this one which were immediately turned over to the appropriate enforcement agencies," the spokesman said.