A commercial and services company has had to close two of its booths at Hanoi’s airport and pay a fine after the facilities were found selling a bowl of meatless instant noodles at ten times the market price last month.

The Bamboo Café & Fast Food stores at the T2 terminal of Noi Bai International Airport were shut down for the rip-off while its operator, Tre Viet Co., was fined VND8 million (US$373) for not listing prices at the stalls, according to the Northern Airport Authority.

The booths charged a passenger VND100,000 ($4.66) for a bowl of instant noodles that did not contain a single piece of meat on December 31, 2014, prompting him to report the case to Minister of Transport Dinh La Thang via an SMS.

The minister then asked the Noi Bai airport operator and the Northern Airport Authority to look into the fleecing.

Since taking office in 2011, Minister Thang has publicized his personal mobile phone number and said he is willing to receive reports from members of the public.

A pack of instant noodles can cost well under VND10,000 on the market.

Tre Viet Co. said the meatless instant noodle is not included in the list of food the Bamboo Café & Fast Food stores registered with the airport authority, and passed the buck to the attendants.

Although the stores only registered to sell instant noodles with meat, the attendants sold the ‘vegetarian’ noodles to the passenger at a high price, according to the company.

Tre Viet Co. added that the checkout software at the stores had not been activated by the time of the incident as the facilities did not officially open then.

The stores did not list prices as per law for the same reason, according to Tre Viet Co.

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