BEIJING
Chinese authorities have intercepted a parcel containing 750 vials of injectable human placenta extract - the single largest consignment of its kind to have been smuggled into the country.
The Shanghai Daily reported Friday that authorities had said the consignment had been illegally mailed from Japan.
It was declared "wooden artwork" and addressed to a plastic surgery hospital in central China's Henan province.
The 15 boxes containing 750 ampoules of the injections have been returned to Japan.
Thursday's interception takes the amount of human placenta extract seized arriving in China from Japan to 1,400 ampoules since August 2014.
Officials said it is believed to have anti-aging properties, but poses a health hazard as it can be contaminated with a variety of dangerous viruses.
In 2013, 200 ampoules - made in Japan and mailed from Hong Kong - were also seized in south China’s Shenzhen, while in Dec. 2013 50 ampoules illegally mailed from South Korea were found in central Hubei.
