Tons of products from battery-mixed coffee kilns have hit the market.

Police work with the owner of a facility that produces roasted coffee from coffee husks, stone powder and... Con Ö batteries.

Mr. Le Trong Yen, Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Dak Nong, said that currently the samples seized at the facility of Ms. Nguyen Thi Loan (village 13, Dak Wer commune, Dak R'lap district, Dak Nong province) have been sent for testing to serve as a basis for handling.

No sales address found

According to Lieutenant Colonel Pham Thanh Binh, Chief of Staff of Dak Nong Provincial Police, authorities have sealed and seized 15 tons of coffee that had been dyed black with battery charcoal and packaged to be released to the market.

In addition, the police also seized 500kg of coffee husks, 35kg of battery charcoal and 10kg of black solution consisting of water and battery charcoal...

"Currently, in Mrs. Loan's warehouse, there is still a lot of waste coffee mixed with black solution" - Mr. Binh informed and said that the packaged products of Mrs. Loan's facility are only waste coffee mixed with battery powder... and not coffee powder products for sale.

"Dirty" coffee from the husk, coffee waste is dyed black with batteries at Ms. Loan's facility.

According to Lieutenant Colonel Binh, Ms. Loan admitted that since the beginning of the year, her facility has released more than 3 tons of "dirty coffee" to the market.

Products packaged from Ms. Loan's facility are exported to many places without labels.

"Ms. Loan has not declared where the products were sold or what they were used for. The police are still investigating," said Mr. Binh, adding that because the investigation is still ongoing, it is not yet possible to confirm whether Ms. Loan's violations will be handled administratively or criminally.

"But it is true that Ms. Loan dyed black coffee husks and waste with Con Ó batteries," said Mr. Binh.

Factory full of stone powder, battery coal

Previously, on the afternoon of April 16, the Environmental Police Department (PC49) of Dak Nong Provincial Police coordinated with the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Dak Nong to raid.

Hundreds of sacks containing stone powder, powdered soil, waste products and coffee husks piled high were discovered.

In which, many coffee wastes were mixed with soil and stone powder and poured onto the floor. Many containers of black water that Ms. Loan said was mixed with Con Ó battery coal were poured onto the surface...

Then the workers shovel the concrete into the concrete mixer to mix well.

Ms. Loan confessed that her facility has been in operation since 2016. Every two weeks, a truck would bring in dozens of tons of "waste coffee."

After that, Ms. Loan admitted to buying Con O brand batteries, smashing them, and taking out the battery cores. The battery carbon was mixed with water and then poured over, mixed with the shells, coffee waste, etc.

"At first, Ms. Loan argued that she only bought crushed stones, waste, and packaged coffee husks, piling them up to fool the bank officers who came to appraise the assets... However, through initial investigation, Ms. Loan confessed that she dyed the coffee waste black to sell for profit," said an investigator.

Attorney Nguyen Thanh Huy(Dak Nong Bar Association):

Criminal proceedings may be instituted…

Ms. Loan's act of purchasing coffee husks and waste and dyeing them black with Con Ó battery charcoal can be handled as "producing and trading counterfeit goods"... According to regulations, if the value of counterfeit, poor quality goods is 100 million VND or more, the penalty is from 5 to 10 years. According to Ms. Loan's statement, from the beginning of 2018 until now, she has sold more than 3 tons of "dirty coffee", worth over 100 million VND. In addition, Ms. Loan's actions also violated Article 137 of the 2015 Penal Code "crime of violating regulations on food hygiene and safety".