Wagyu cattle farmer probed over sale of sperm to smuggler for ‘several million yen’
- Shoddy paperwork by farmer and smuggler blamed for failure of plot to take the pricey cattle’s sperm and fertilised eggs to China
The livestock farmer in Tokushima Prefecture told police in February he sold the sperm and the eggs for several million yen to a man he had never met before, the sources said.
The investigation came after Chinese authorities found the Japanese man carrying the sperm and eggs, stashed in straw-like containers, in July last year and did not allow him to enter the country.
The man, who did not go through the required procedure for exporting livestock and the like, told the police he was just asked by an acquaintance to carry the sperm and eggs to China. Police believe the man is different from the person who bought them from the Tokushima farmer.
The farmer did not follow necessary procedures to sell cattle sperm and eggs either, telling the police he was asked to sell them over the phone and did not know they would be taken out of the country, the sources said.