Tap water sold in branded bottles
- Publication Date：
- Last updated：2019-01-05
- View count：874
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Tap water sold in branded bottles
The Kaohsiung Prosecutors Office is charging a man on multiple counts for selling bogus bottled water over the course of 10 years
The Kaohsiung Prosecutors Office was notified that bogus bottles water was sold to make illegal profits. The chief prosecutor Hong and prosecutor Chou direct the Food and Drug Administration, The Kaohsiung Department of Health, Water Resources and Environmental Protection, and The Second Special Police Corps raided the home of the suspect. At the scene of the crime, prosecutors and police seized over 140 bottles of fake "Danfeng Water Mineral Water" (丹楓之水礦泉水), bottling equipment, lists of customers, 2,850 plastic caps, 2,710 cartons and more than 20,000 discarded plastic bottles. Two suspects surnamed Lee and Chen were summoned.
After an investigation, authorities discovered that Lee was familiar with the water bottling process and sales channels because his father had been a water vendor. Since 2008, Lee has been using pipes to steal public tap water from an apartment building. Chen would help Lee gather discarded water bottles from merchants and then at home would use a brush to clean the bottles, fill them with tap water and then place caps on them. He would then sell each 1,400 ml bottle for the low price of NT$70 in cartons of 12 to hotels, barbecue restaurants and other establishments in Kaohsiung. Lee had been operating the water business for 10 years and had made NT$3.36 million in illegal profits.
Lee and Chen were charged with theft, fraud, trademark infringement and breach of Act 17 of the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation. Lee and Chen were released on NT$50,000 and NT$20,000 bail respectively.
Prosecutor Chou has mandated The Kaohsiung Department of Health took samples from bottles to see if the contents met health and sanitation standards, and the rest was impounded by the Second Special Police Corps. The customers list will also be examined and the water in recycled bottle will no longer be sold.