Legislator Hong Shenhan (left) of the Democratic Progressive Party and Li Wen (right), chairman of the Lianjiang County Party Committee of the DPP, jointly held a press conference today, accusing the Lianjiang County government of being suspected of covering up smuggling.

(Photo by reporter Xie Junlin)

[Reporter Xie Junlin/Taipei Report] DPP Legislator Hong Shenhan and DPP Lianjiang County Party Committee Chairman Li Wen held a press conference today (4th), accusing the Lianjiang County Government of being suspected of covering up smuggling and indulgent activities from Australia. The live lobster left the port from Matsu and headed for Daqiu Island with only sika deer, but in fact it was smuggled to Chinese ships in the waters near Gaodeng Island. There were as many as 33 trips, with a total of 3313 boxes and an estimated weight of 60 tons. The market price is as high as 200 million yuan, calling for a thorough investigation.

Hong Shenhan said that since Australia accused the Wuhan laboratory of the pneumonia outbreak in 2020, China has banned Australian products from being imported into China, one of which is lobster, but the Chinese still love lobster very much, and it was even smuggled from Hong Kong at one time. After Hong Kong tightened the crackdown, business opportunities worth hundreds of millions of dollars began to move to the outlying islands closest to China, one of which is Matsu.

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Li Wen pointed out that in November last year, he publicly appealed to the Lianjiang County government to pay attention to the fact that the air cargo was occupied by lobsters. On October 20 alone, more than 1,400 kilograms of lobsters were transported from the main island of Taiwan to Matsu, seriously crowding out the delivery of livelihood materials.

After reviewing the information from the Customs Administration and the Coast Guard Administration, it was found that Matsu had no record of exporting lobsters from September to November.

According to Matsu’s departure records of lobster cargo ships, although they all applied for the route to Daqiu, after comparing the track map, they sailed to the waters near Gaodeng Island, where there are no residents and only garrisons.

Li Wen also questioned why the county government approved Haiyuan, one of the lobster cargo ships, to carry a large number of lobsters to the uninhabited island as early as October 2020 because it failed the inspection.

As early as October, the Matsu Sea Patrol Area discovered the anomaly, and sent a letter suggesting that the county government no longer agree to declare the entry and exit of Hong Kong to Daqiu and Gaodeng, but the county government ignored it and continued to condone the smuggling.

Hong Shenhan raised concerns to the Coast Guard, pointing out that from September to November last year, a total of 32 cargo ships carried a large number of lobsters to Daqiu, the "uninhabited island among outlying islands". Even ordinary people can see that something is wrong. In order to track down the smuggling authorities, they can use "Lianjiang county government said no problem" and release him to deliver goods to uninhabited islands?

Hong Shenhan said that it can be seen from the official document that on October 11, the Coast Guard discovered that the lobster boat might be involved in illegal activities, but did not actively search for evidence, follow up with the prison, and take the initiative to send a boat to pursue it, and indulged in more than 20 lobster smuggling boats. Leaving the port, the ships knowingly suspected of smuggling challenged the public power, and even the owner and receiver of the cargo were not clearly grasped.

Finally, Li Wen said that there are rumors in Matsu that there are politicians who are acting as "door gods" and put pressure on the relevant units to let them go, hoping that the prosecutors will use the spirit of "do not pervert and let go" to actively investigate and deter government units from covering up smuggling.

Hong Shenhan also publicly warned that lobster smuggling is not only happening in Matsu, but also in other outlying islands. Is there any criminal group operating for a long time?

Ask the Coast Guard to actively investigate and arrest them.

The Matsu ship is suspected of falsely reporting its route, but actually smuggling live lobsters.

(Provided by Hong Shenhan's office)

Live lobsters are being smuggled into China.

(Provided by Hong Shenhan's office)

111 List of Matsu cargo ships carrying lobsters into and out of the port.

(Provided by Hong Shenhan's office)