Shanghai police grill beef-smugglers

Police in Shanghai have broken up a gang that smuggled beef from Japan, detaining 17 people and seizing 13 tonnes of beef, in a case worth over 30 million yuan (4.8 million U.S. dollars).

Of the suspects, eight have officially been arrested, while the other nine are awaiting trial on bail, Shanghai Public Security Bureau announced on Thursday.

The gang, led by a Japanese national, smuggled 97 tonnes beef from Japan to Cambodia, where they changed the Japanese ladles on the beef for Chinese. The beef was then taken to China via Laos, and sold at high prices in major Chinese cities including Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hangzhou to bars, restaurants and food processors.

Smuggled beef is a health risk. China banned beef imports from Japan in 2001 after a BSE outbreak. Endi