Exporter selling counterfeit Thai durian to China arrested in Chanthaburi
The owner of a fruit-buying company in Chanthaburi province has been arrested by officers from Muang Chanthaburi police station and Chanthaburi Agricultural Research and Development Centre on Monday for allegedly using counterfeit Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) and Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) certificates to export Vietnamese durians to China as Thai durians.
“We investigated a fruit-buying company called ‘Lung Tu Odd’ located in Khlong Narai subdistrict of Chanthaburi province and found that they had used fake GAP and GMP certificates to make durians that they had imported from Vietnam look like they were from Thailand before exporting them to Chinese customers,” Alongkorn Polabutr, adviser to the agriculture and cooperatives minister, said.
“Preliminary investigation revealed that the company had imported over 18 tonnes of durians from Vietnam, which was sold at THB70 per kilogram and is planning to export to China at THB160 per kilogram.”
Alongkorn added that Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Chalermchai Srion had ordered the Department of Agriculture to work with the police, Customs Department, the Department of Foreign Trade and Department of Special Investigation to further investigate the company’s network as well as other fruit counterfeiters in durian-growing provinces to prevent damage to Thai durian’s reputation in the global market.
“The ministry’s executives would meet this week to discuss setting measures to prevent fruit counterfeiting,” said Alongkorn.
Statistics from the Customs Department showed that in 2020 Thailand exported fresh durians valued at THB65.6 billion, up 44 per cent from the previous year, with China as the main market responsible for THB47.7 billion of durians, or 73 per cent of total durian export.
