MILAN (Italy) - POOR residents of Milan will receive an unlikely Christmas gift of contraband caviar this year from kindly prosecutors, a newspaper reported on Saturday.

Customs inspectors seized 40 kilogrammes of beluga caviar last month from two couriers travelling from Warsaw, Corriere della Sera newspaper reported.

Prosecutors will hang on to a sample of the prized sturgeon eggs worth a total of 400,000 euros (S$813,000) for the investigation, while the rest will be given to charities to give to the poor.

'Testing confirmed that the caviar was perfectly edible and we thought of giving a Christmas present to those who cannot offer one to themselves,' Mr Juri Mantegazza, the official who carried out the seizure, told the newspaper.

Charities seemed to grudgingly accept the gift.

'All donations are accepted,' Father Virginio Colmegna of Charity House told the paper. 'However, we must remember that the poor are in need of rights and dignity, more so than luxury products.' -- AFP