Federal officials said six persons were arrested in New York on Tuesday for illegally importing goose and duck intestines from China, often by hiding them inside rattlesnakes or mislabeling them as pet grooming supplies on customs paperwork.
In a charge filed Monday, police said the conspiracy entailed smuggling illicit duck blood and hawthorn fruit from China to California and then to New York, where they were sold to consumers, including restaurants.
The six were accused with importing, storing, and selling hundreds of pounds of unlawful food between August 2022 and May 2023.
They were scheduled to appear in Brooklyn federal court Tuesday. Their attorneys were contacted for comment. Authorities claimed Chinese hawthorn fruit and raw poultry are prohibited by federal legislation.
On customs papers, 1,966 cartons of goose and duck intestines from China were labeled nail clippers and other pet grooming supplies at the Port of Long Beach in August 2022, according to the complaint.
According to officials from the federal government, the cartons were transported from Los Angeles International Airport to John F.
Kennedy International Airport in New York by the cargo service of a major commercial airline in the United States.
During the month of November 2022, the authorities received a complaint that another shipment of unlawful poultry items had been mislabeled as frozen seafood product and concealed under rattlesnakes that had died.
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