Do Thanh Lam, deputy head of the Market Management Board under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, said nearly 20 tons of smuggled sea food from China had been seized from April 26 to May 1.
Police and market managers in Hanoi seized six trucks transporting tens of thousands of Chinese sturgeons, snakehead fish and frogs.
Sturgeons breed in cold weather in provinces like Lam Dong, Lao Cai, Son La, and Hoa Binh and sell for VND180,000 (US$8.64) per kilogram while smuggled sturgeon fetches VND100,000 ($4.8) in wholesale markets, and at border crossings it is VND50,000 for live fish and VND30,000 for dead fish.
This abundant and unchecked supply is slowly killing the domestic market which cannot compete with such cheap prices.
At a conference on the sea food sector held recently, participants said that enterprises were now smuggling sturgeon by air. Lieutenant Colonel Pham Giang Son, chief of police in Hanoi, said they are keeping a close watch on 10 rings that are suspected of smuggling the fish into the country.
The public is concerned about Chinese sea food which goes unchecked and doubts are raised as to high levels of banned substances in most produce selling openly in the domestic market.
