Forty kilograms of prized black wagyu beef from Japan brought in by a Taiwanese chef were seized after the chef arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport from Tokyo on Tuesday night, customs officers said yesterday.
The officials said the beef, wrapped in seven packages, was found in the chef’s two checked suitcases after arriving in the country on a Delta Air Lines flight.
The beef is to be destroyed because of quarantine requirements under the Act for Prevention and Control of Infectious Animal Diseases (動物傳染病防治條例).
Photo: Yao Chieh-hsiu, Taipei Times
Customs officials said the chef did not have the required export inspection certificate for the meat from the Japanese government and he did not declare the meat when he went through customs.
The chef said that he bought the beef, which was produced in Kagoshima on the island of Kyushu, for his restaurant in Taichung.
Meanwhile, aviation police said that a man was arrested for trying to carry 5.3kg of methamphetamines out of Taiwan to Australia.
It was the biggest haul of drugs seized from an outbound passenger in recent years, police said.
The 37-year-old suspect, identified only by his surname, Tu (杜), was scheduled to depart for Sydney from Taoyuan at 11pm on Tuesday.
The hidden drugs were detected in his checked luggage by an X-ray machine in the airport’s departure hall, but Tu had already entered a restricted area of the airport when he was apprehended.
After he was detained, Tu said that a friend had asked him to carry something out of the country and that he did not know that drugs were hidden in his luggage.
Tu was remanded to the Taoyuan District Prosecutors’ Office for allegedly violating the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例).
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