‘Use of Others' Names’ Unauthorized Food Importers and Sellers Caught

A business operator who illegally imported and sold over 30,000 items of food products and cosmetics under another person's name was caught in a customs crackdown.

The Gwangju Regional Customs Office of the Korea Customs Service announced on the 23rd that Mr. A was caught on charges of violating the Customs Act, Food Sanitation Act, and Cosmetics Act, and was sent to the prosecution without detention (with a recommendation for indictment).

In a mart area set up within a Thai restaurant, Mr. A has displayed illegally imported food products and cosmetics for sale. Provided by Gwangju Regional Customs Office, Korea Customs Service.

According to Gwangju Customs, Mr. A operated a 128-pyeong (approximately 424 square meters) Thai restaurant and mart in Korea, and is suspected of illegally importing and selling food products and cosmetics a total of 971 times from 2021 to May of this year without meeting import requirements.

He used another person's name to make it appear as if small quantities of personal use items were being brought into the country, a method to evade customs inspections.

When bringing personal use items valued at $150 (in the U.S., $200) or less into the country, if the items are not excluded from the list clearance system, they can be cleared through submission of a customs clearance list without an import declaration (list clearance), and customs duties and requirement checks are exempted. This case exploited that system.

In particular, Mr. A imported and sold food products and cosmetics without reporting to and registering his business with the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, thereby unlawfully receiving tax reductions amounting to about 20 million KRW in customs duties and other taxes.

Gwangju Customs secured and investigated Mr. A’s sales ledgers and confirmed that he gained illegal profits worth approximately 1.1 billion KRW while selling food products and cosmetics with a cost price of about 100 million KRW, and seized over 3,700 illegally imported items stored in the mart.

Among the seized food products and pharmaceuticals, many were found to contain ingredients and substances that could be harmful to health. Gwangju Customs emphasized that these products are prohibited from being imported and sold domestically.

A Gwangju Customs official stated, “We will strengthen crackdowns to prevent illegal imported food products and pharmaceuticals smuggled and distributed from abroad from threatening public health.”