May 22, 2008

Food dealers arrested for smuggling Japanese beef to China
 

Four food dealers were arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of smuggling Japanese beef from a Hokkaido port to China.
 

The suspects tried to pass 3 tonnes of Japanese beef off as frozen crabs for export on April 1. However, the ploy fell through and custom officials seized the shipment the following day.

China has banned imports of Japanese beef in 2001 due to an outbreak of mad cow disease.

The suspects are Fujita Akihiko, president of Osaka seafood processor Fujita Geihan Co., Mayuki Matsuo and Satoshi Hirakuri, president and employee of an Osaka meat marketer, and Ma Xing, a Chinese broker.

Hokkaido police raided Fujita Geihan's facilities including its plant in the city of Mombetsu. The company has exported frozen crabs to Shanghai and other foreign destinations many times, said the police who suspected that the company may have used similar methods to smuggle Japanese beef to China, where the meat is considered a delicacy among the wealthy.