OSAKA -- The Osaka prefectural police on Wednesday arrested a livestock farmer from Tokushima Prefecture on suspicion of providing sperm and fertilized eggs of wagyu Japanese beef cattle that were almost taken to China.
Tetsuyuki Matsudaira, 70, from the city of Yoshinogawa was arrested on suspicion of violating the Domestic Animal Infectious Diseases Control Law and the Customs Law. The police also found that grilled meat restaurant owner Yusuke Maeda and his acquaintance Toshiki Ogura, who have already been arrested on suspicion of transporting the sperm and eggs, had smuggled those items four times in the past. Police suspect they were provided by Matsudaira in all the cases.
According to investigative sources, people at a ranch on Hainan Island in southern China are believed to have asked the suspects to smuggle the sperm and eggs, including on the past four occasions. The police are currently investigating the distribution route.
A police report said Matsudaira allegedly conspired with Maeda and Ogura and tried to export the sperm and fertilized eggs from Osaka Prefecture to Shanghai via a ferry on June 29 last year without the required Japanese quarantine inspection. The sperm and fertilized eggs were frozen and placed in a metallic container in an amount that would fill 365 straws in total.
Matsudaira owns a ranch while running a business to collect fertilized eggs and sperm from livestock for sale. It has been reported that the sperm and eggs involved in the latest case were provided by Matsudaira to Maeda through his acquaintance. Matsudaira denied the allegation, saying he did not know they would be exported.
According to the sources, Maeda has told the police that he "took eggs and sperm to China several times starting a few years ago." Based on documents and other sources of information that have seized, the police believe they have been involved in at least four incidents of smuggling.
Call records from Maeda's mobile phone show he had contact with the people at the Hainan ranch. These records and Maeda's statements have led police suspect the Hainan ranch has asked Maeda to convey those items for some time and placed orders with Matsudaira to provide fertilized eggs and sperm.
Maeda also has told the police that he received the items from Matsudaira and directed Ogura to transport them. The police have investigated the case on suspicion that Maeda and Matsudaira received rewards and payments from the China ranch.
A person in charge of the Hainan ranch told The Yomiuri Shimbun this month that it has conducted in-house investigations and has so far not found anything related to the cases.
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