China seizes 1,000 tonnes of smuggled meat

GUANGZHOU -- Maritime police in Southern China's Guangdong province have seized 1,000 tonnes of smuggled meat and arrested 16 suspects during a recent raid, local authorities announced Saturday.

The frozen meat was found wrapped in cardboard boxes in three freezers on a boat and was worth more than 80 million yuan ($11.9 million dollars), police said.

The suspects were caught in waters off the coastal city of Shenzhen Thursday, according to police.

The frozen meat had no quarantine certificates or legal purchase documents, and included beef, ox tripe, chicken wings, drumsticks, oxtongue and chicken feet, from the United States, Brazil and Thailand.