Police recently caught a smuggling ring that was allegedly selling seafood from polluted Japanese waters to the Chinese mainland. Chinese netizens were shocked by the news and many appealed for authorities to punish the perpetrators severely.
The suspects allegedly smuggled more than 5,000 tons of high-end seafood, valued at a total of 230 million yuan (US$35.4m), according to customs officials in Qingdao, a northern coastal city in Shandong Province, where the suspects were apprehended.
According to officials, they first caught wind of potential misconduct when they noticed some enterprises were selling seafood at seemingly unfeasible prices. During the preliminary investigation, customs officials found that these companies had lied about where they purchased the seafood in question. The investigators eventually narrowed in on a man surnamed Wang who owned a US-based company that has allegedly been involved in smuggling seafood from Japanese waters near the location of the Fukushima nuclear accident of March 2011. Chinese customs authorities had banned any food imported from areas impacted by nuclear radiation. However, authorities said the suspects tried to escape notice by using fake packaging and by transporting the seafood through a roundabout route.
The news has intensified widespread concerns in China about food safety, with some extremists labeling the suspects "traitors" and claiming that this crime warrants the death penalty. Many netizens said that China's poor oversight in this sector allows many Chinese food vendors and manufacturers to get rich at the cost of their customers' health and, in rare cases, even their lives.
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