Cooperation is key to beating frozen meat smugglers

China's customs authorities have busted several gangs smuggling frozen meat recently, with investigators urging reinforcement of comprehensive border controls to tackle the problem.

The cases show that smuggling methods have become better hidden and the gangs and their dens become more dispersed, making the anti-smuggling campaign more difficult, Xinhua News Agency reported.

Huang Wei, an anti-smuggling officer from Nanning customs in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, told Xinhua that sea and land forces should cooperate and inspection work should be strengthened in areas including private access to the border, illegally modified vehicles, local markets and storage warehouses.

Last Monday, customs authorities in Nanning busted a warehouse in a village where piles of packaged frozen meat were hidden, Guangxi Radio and Television Station reported.

A staff member from the local anti-smuggling bureau said the packages of frozen meat, including chicken feet, pigs feet and pork tripe, were all labeled in foreign languages and the total weight was about a dozen metric tons.

The customs authorities did not find the warehouse owner at the scene, but they sealed the warehouse and seized all the meat, the report said, adding that the case is under further investigation.

In July, customs and police seized over 100 tons of frozen meat in Nanning worth about 10 million yuan ($1.4 million).

"When we opened the refrigerator, a very unpleasant smell came out, which was very disgusting," anti-smuggling officer Hu Xuelun told Xinhua, adding that the conditions the meat was stored in were very dirty, with blood all over the floor and many flies buzzing around.

In June, customs authorities from Nanning and Guangdong province captured 24 suspects who had smuggled more than 3,000 tons of frozen meat since July last year. Also in June, anti-smuggling groups in Shijiazhuang, Hebei province, seized 52 refrigerated containers transported by sea containing 1,500 tons of smuggled meat worth 50 million yuan.

Xinhua said frozen meat was generally smuggled from countries such as the United States, Brazil, Australia and India and sold to restaurants and barbecue stalls.

Li Yunwen, deputy director of the market supervision bureau of Qingxiu district in Nanning, told Xinhua that some frozen products that bypassed inspection and quarantine might come from disease affected areas.

They tended to be transported without using professional freezers and were prone to becoming rotten and carrying bacteria, which posed a big threat to people's health, Li said.

Although China customs has stepped up efforts to crack down on frozen meat smuggling over the past year, smugglers have become better hidden and have developed sales network and groups of customers on digital platforms.

Xinhua said smuggled frozen goods crossing the border were now loaded separately onto small vans in different batches and transported to inland areas before being loaded onto bigger trucks in remote places such as sugar-cane or banana fields.

The meat would then be processed into jerky or canned meat and repackaged before entering the market.

The key to combating smuggling was effective control over the source and intercepting frozen goods before they entered the country, Nanfang Plus, a Guangdong news portal, reported.

Huang said a joint sea and land force should be formed to inspect and block access by sea and investigate and capture gangs on land, and such joint efforts should cover more border areas.