TAIPEI (TVBS News) — Two Taiwanese men were indicted on Tuesday (Nov. 7), one for smuggling 24,000 kilograms of raw frozen oysters from China into Taiwan and falsely reporting them as processed foods, and the other for selling the smuggled goods, prosecutors said.
A businessman surnamed Tseng reportedly snuck the raw oysters by customs as "processed goods," using the name "FROZEN SALTED OYSTER MEAT" to evade customs checks.
They were then sold to a wholesaler, surnamed Lin, who sold them to market vendors and eventually consumed by the public.
Kaohsiung Customs officials became suspicious when they noticed the import price for the oysters was unusually low. Further investigations revealed Lin's application was false.
Prosecutors pointed out that in September 2021, Tseng had spent more than NT＄1.66 million to purchase the frozen oysters from a man in China surnamed Yang.
Tseng confessed that he preserved the oysters in salt water with the same salinity as seawater to avoid spoilage. He was aware that the oysters were not, in fact, processed goods.
Lin also admitted to selling the oysters to vendors but argued he was not aware the oysters were regulated items.