CHINA CUSTOMS DESTROYS SMUGGLED DURIAN

There various report on 'smuggled durian' enter to China and arrested. According to China’s General Administration of Customs, customs authorities and anti-contraband personnel in the border town of Shuikou in Guangxi province recently destroyed 18.88 tons of smuggled durians of unknown origin with an estimated total value of approximately $43,500. The destruction process took about six hours, during which the illicitly imported durians were converted into organic fertilizer.  He Yusi, an official from Shuikou Customs, stated that the destroyed durians had not been subjected to the requisite quarantine and approval formalities, nor had the necessary phytosanitary certificates been obtained, thus posing unacceptable food safety and health risks. Shuikou is a border town located in Longzhou County of Guangxi province, on the opposite site of the border as the town of Tà Lùng in Vietnam’s Cao Bằng province. Owing to several geographical advantages, this land port has been operational since as early as 1792, playing an important role in the trade of goods between China and Vietnam. According to China Customs, 16,266 tons of fruit with a total value of $8.56 million were imported into China through the land port of Shuikou in the first seven months of 2020. Blog "Anim Agriculture Technology' rewrite on few reports regarding this issue from newspaper.

According to China’s General Administration of Customs, on Aug. 31, 2020 customs authorities and anti-contraband personnel in the town of Shuikou in Guangxi province destroyed 49.58 tons of smuggled durian, converting them into 30 tons of organic fertilizer. This was the largest batch of durians to be destroyed by Nanning customs in terms of both volume and value this year. Anti-contraband personnel in Shuikou seized the durians when they recently busted a smuggling transit point within their jurisdiction. The case was valued at approximately 1.2 million Chinese yuan ($175,000), with nine vehicles being seized and five suspects arrested. He Yusi, an official with Shuikou customs, noted that owing to the high price difference between durians inside and outside of China, smugglers can make large profits from selling illicitly imported fruit, albeit at high risk. At present, only Thailand and Malaysia are permitted to export durians to China. The origin of this batch of durians remains unclear. In the absence of documents detailing the production region and the use of phytosanitary certificates, and without the fruit undergoing the requisite quarantine and testing procedures, there is a risk of harmful organisms, pesticide residues and heavy metals making their way to consumers’ tables. Furthermore, harmful organisms brought in on smuggled fruits may become invasive, causing extensive damage to local ecosystems. A representative from Guangxi Nanning Gao Si Te Technology and Trade (广西南宁高斯特科贸有限公司) said that when ground up and processed at high temperatures, the durians are converted to organic fertilizer within two to three days. Luo Huacheng, head investigator at the anti-contraband bureau of Shuikou customs, noted that customs authorities will heavily crack down on all smuggling activities to protect public health. Luo went on to explain that durians are a high-value item that smugglers can make considerable profit from, especially during the harvest season in Southeast Asia, when smuggling becomes rampant. Thankyou...

By,

M Anim,

Putrajaya,

Malaysia.