ANILA (AFP) - Philippine police said they have arrested five people for selling carnivorous piranhas, raising fears over what could happen if the fish got into the local waterways.
At least 62 live piranha fingerlings were seized from the group after a sting operation where a fisheries officer posed as a buyer late on Thursday, Senior Superintendent Jude Santos said.
'We immediately turned them over to the Bureau of Fisheries and their expert determined they were piranhas... I think they have killed them by now,' Mr Santos told AFP.
The fish, known for their sharp teeth, an appetite for meat, and their ability to strip flesh from a carcass, were being sold to collectors of exotic fish to be placed in aquariums, the police chief said.
