ROSTOV-ON-DON, April 27 (RIA Novosti) - Police in southern Russian have detained a group of suspected poachers in the northern part of the Caspian sea and seized over a metric ton of sturgeon, local police said on Monday.

"During the search, more than a metric ton of fish, or a total of 181 sturgeon, was seized, as well as fishing equipment," the regional police department said on its website.

They also had 11 Caspian seal carcasses in their boats.

The 13 suspected poachers on four boats, all of them residents of the south Russian Republic of Daghestan, attempted to flee the police. They stopped only after police fired shots into the engines of their boats.

"They did not respond to orders to stop and attempted to hide the evidence by throwing the poached fish overboard," police said.

A criminal case has been launched.