TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A couple of tea traders have been indicted for selling tea leaves from Myanmar in boxes labeled as Alishan High Mountain Tea, reports said Tuesday (April 12).

The suspects, a married couple named Hsu (許) and Lee (李), ran a tea wholesale business in Chiayi County, which includes Alishan. Prosecutors said they made NT$1.01 million (US$31,000) from the scam they started in 2019, per CNA.

Hsu, 48, and Lee, 49, registered their tea to participate in regional competitions. The awards they won allowed them to raise the prices of the tea products threefold.

Hsu and a friend called Huang (黃) had moved 6,467 kilograms of tea leaves originating in Myanmar from a warehouse in the Chinese province of Yunnan to Vietnam. They knew it would not be possible to transport them directly from China to Taiwan. 

They then imported the leaves into Taiwan after labeling them as a product of Vietnam.

Prosecutors in Chiayi County charged the couple on Tuesday with fraud and for breaking the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation. Hsu and Huang also face charges of forgery.