Incheon Main Customs Office detects 230 tons of Chinese seaweed smuggled

Published 2024년 11월 21일

Tridge summary

A gang of 13 individuals was caught smuggling 230 tons of Chinese sorghum into South Korea by disguising it as urea water, evading a tariff of up to 486%. The smugglers, who saw an opportunity due to Korea's urea water shortage in 2021 and 2023, were indicted for custom act violations. A couple running an agricultural cooperative was also involved in the scheme, selling the smuggled frozen pollack as a domestic product. The Korea Customs Service is strengthening collection and inspection to combat such smuggling activities, and consumers are urged to report any illegal distribution of agricultural products.

Disclaimer:The above summary was generated by Tridge's proprietary AI model for informational purposes.

Original content

A gang that smuggled 230 tons of Chinese sorghum by disguising it as urea water was caught by customs. The Incheon Main Customs Office of the Korea Customs Service announced on the 21st that 13 people, including a 40-year-old domestic distributor, were indicted without detention on charges of violating the Customs Act and sent to the prosecution. They are accused of smuggling 230 tons of Chinese sorghum, worth 1.3 billion won, into Korea on a total of 19 occasions from November 2023 to March of this year. Black beans, sorghum, are recognized as a “superfood” with excellent effects in preventing cancer, aging, and hair loss, and are popular in Korea. It is a high-tariff item with a tariff of up to 486%, and it was revealed that the smuggling gang planned their crime with the idea that they could make a lot of money by importing sorghum without paying tariffs and selling it as domestically produced. Incheon Customs reported that the smuggling gang saw the shortage of urea water ...

Source: Nongmin