OSAKA — Two men were arrested on March 9 on suspicion of transporting sperm and fertilized eggs of “wagyu” Japanese beef cattle to China, police here said.
Toshiki Ogura, 64, of Osaka Prefecture, and 51-year-old restaurant operator Yusuke Maeda stand accused of violating the Act on Domestic Animal Infectious Diseases Control.
It has been confirmed that the wagyu sperm and fertilized eggs were purchased from a stock farm in Tokushima Prefecture. According to sources close to the investigation, the Osaka Prefectural Police suspect that Ogura then transported the items to Shanghai in July 2018 aboard a ferry departing from an Osaka Prefecture port without going through the legally mandated export inspection.
Ogura returned home after Chinese authorities did not allow him to bring the eggs and semen into the country. He then notified the quarantine station in Japan, saying, “I was asked by an acquaintance (to transport the items). I didn’t know it was illegal.” Investigators believe it was Maeda who asked Ogura to carry the items to Shanghai.
It is illegal to export wagyu semen and fertilized eggs. Even for other livestock exports, the Act on Domestic Animal Infectious Diseases Control stipulates that the animals must undergo inspections. Violators could face up to three years in prison or a fine of up to 1 million yen. Detailed export conditions are determined by bilateral agreement.
A man in his 70s who runs the stock farm in Tokushima Prefecture sold the sperm and eggs in June last year, fulfilling an order he had received four months earlier from an individual he did not know. The stock farm operator told the Mainichi Shimbun that he did not know the buyer would take them to China.
Wagyu beef has become very popular overseas, and it is feared that allowing any fertilized wagyu cattle eggs out of Japan could eventually deal serious damage to the domestic industry.
Source: The Mainichi
