A Norwegian woman has been held by Chinese authorities in the on-going smuggling scandal.
According to Fish Update, the woman is being held under allegations that she has taken part in smuggling salmon into China from Vietnam, which is the core of the scandal.
She represents the Norwegian company Salmar in the Chinese market. According to the communications manager at Salmar, Trond Williksen, said that they’re investigating the situation.
The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) is offering consultancy as usual, but has declined to comment further on the case:
“The Norwegian MFA has confirmed that a Norwegian national has been arrested in China. We will offer consular assistance in accordance with our rules. Apart from this we cannot comment on consular cases,” a spokesman for the MFA told the news outlet Undercurrent News.
The illegal smuggling of Norwegian salmon rose to its heights during the tension between the two countries after at Chinese dissident was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. And the sentence for the involved parties is very strict if convicted: In China, the punishment of evading duties of more than CNY 500.000 face a sentence of minimum 10 years up to as much as life.
