Woman jailed for smuggling formula
Print Edition
A COURT in Hong Kong has jailed a woman for smuggling baby formula, the first time that anyone has been sent to prison under the city’s ban on unlicensed milk powder exports, officials said yesterday.
The 37-year-old, whose nationality was not disclosed, was jailed for five weeks after being found with four boxes of baby formula weighing 3.2 kilograms at the border crossing between Hong Kong and its neighboring city of Shenzhen on Sunday.
Hong Kong barred people from taking more than 1.8 kilograms of formula out of the city in March after a rush on milk powder by Chinese mainland parents, distrustful of domestic milk brands due to a 2008 scandal involving formula tainted with melamine that killed six children and sickened 300,000 others.
Their concern triggered demand which saw shelves emptied around the world.
Hong Kong’s controversial ban aimed to crack down on “parallel traders” who sell milk powder for a profit on the Chinese mainland.
The woman pleaded guilty to “illegally exporting powdered formula for infants and children ... from Hong Kong,” a government statement said.
The woman had been convicted three times previously for the same offense and had been given a 21-day suspended prison sentence in November.
The government says offenders face fines of HK$500,000 (US$64,282) and two years in prison.
Hundreds of people from the mainland were seen stuffing tins of baby milk powder into large bags and boxes near train stations at the border before the ban came into effect.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
