File
Two men who pleaded guilty to the possession of illegal abalone were fined R100 000 each in a Cape Town court on Friday but escaped a jail sentence.
The Hawks said 32-year-old Yihang Lee and 43-year-old Jan Jacobs were convicted and sentenced for contravening the Marine Living Resources Act.
The fines will be paid into the Criminal Asset Recovery Account while the seized abalone will be forfeited to the state.
"Furthermore they were each sentenced to five years' imprisonment wholly suspended for five years," according to a Hawks statement.
Lee and Jacobs were arrested in Table View last October during a search-and-seizure operation executed by a multi-disciplinary team.
Meanwhile, another Chinese national, Qing Yun Jiang was also fined R200 000 on Wednesday, which will also be paid into the Criminal Asset Recovery Account.
Jiang was also sentenced to five years imprisonment, wholly suspended for five years following his arrest in Millerton in May.
