PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY, November 5 (RIA Novosti) - Police in Kamchatka in Russia's Far East have seized more than one metric tonne of poached red caviar and about 100 kg (220 pounds) of crab meat, a police spokesman said on Thursday.

"The poached delicacies were discovered during the inspection of a truck on the Petropavlovsk-Elizovo highway," the spokesman said.

He said 48 buckets of salmon caviar with the total weight of 1.15 metric tonnes and nine boxes containing cans with crab meat were seized from a 48-year-old unemployed resident of the town of Sobolevo, adding the man had failed to provide to police documents showing the legal origin of the products.

Salmon caviar, or red caviar, is not as highly prized as the black caviar from sturgeon.

This year, police seized over one tonne of salmon and over 60 tonnes of salmon caviar during anti-poaching operations held in Kamchatka. A total of 145 vessels were confiscated from poachers.

Some 155 criminal cases have been initiated in the region over the illegal use of biological resources.