TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Investigators in Pingtung County destroyed 9,600 kilograms of tea leaves imported from Vietnam by a businessman who passed them off as Taiwan tea, reports said Friday (Aug. 19).

The man, named as Huang (黃), opened a tea shop and recruited three people to help him sell tea leaves in bags indicating they were a product of Taiwan, CNA reported. The labels referred to at least five brands of local tea and presented some of them as “special selections” from the country’s central mountain range.

Police and health officials in February raided homes and businesses where they found 600 kg of tea leaves from Vietnam and more than 9,000 kg of unmarked bags of leaves also imported from the Southeast Asian country.

On Wednesday (Aug. 17), the suspects saw their prosecution deferred for one year, with suspended fines of NT$700,000 (US$23,000), NT$40,000, and NT$30,000 respectively.

The destruction of the tea leaves was completed at Pingtung County’s Kanding incineration plant on Thursday (Aug. 18), the report said.