The Sen Hong Bich restaurant, located on the third floor of the Savico Megamall commercial center in Long Bien District, Hanoi, was Thursday found sourcing beef with dubious origins from China that it was selling as US steak

Economic police and market watchdog officers caught Nguyen Danh Hinh, 38, red-handed as he was carrying four cartons to the goods loading area of Savico Megamall.

The cartons contained 110 kg of beef and 40 kg of seaweed with labels in Chinese, police said.

Hinh, hailing from the northern province of Bac Ninh, confessed to police that he had bought the beef from China at VND150,000 a kg and drove it to Hanoi to sell to the restaurant, according to officers.

Hinh also asserted that even though the meat was bought in China, it actually originated from the US, police said.

However, the man failed to present any relevant papers to prove the meat quality and origins.

Police seized the meat and are investigating further.

In 2011, another beef scandal emerged when it was discovered that several local restaurants offering luxurious dishes that supposedly included Kobe beef were actually beef that didn’t come from Japan.

Importers had declared with customs authorities that their products were ordinary beef temporarily imported to be re-exported instead of Kobe beef to pass customs clearance. The meat was then sold to restaurants which claimed it was Kobe beef to deceive customers, according to Vu Ngoc Anh, deputy head of the General Customs Department.

“What has been served to customers is probably imported from New Zealand,” he said.

Smuggled fish, frogs

In related news, Hanoi police have also uncovered two incidents of illegally transporting nearly 10,000 catfish, snakehead fish, and frogs from China to Vietnam.

Specifically, on May 1, police checked a truck driven by Nguyen Van Hoc, 40, in Kim Anh Commune, Soc Son District, and found 9,360 catfish stored in cartons.

The owner of the cartons, Nguyen Van Thinh, 26, confessed to buying the breeds from China at VND90,000 a kg.

On the same day, police also found 133 snakehead fish, weighing a total of 149kg, and 360 frogs, weighing 72kg, from a truck owned by Nguyen Xuan Tu, 31, hailing from Hai Phong.

Tu said he bought the animals from China without any receipts or papers.

Police seized all of the said products for investigation.