MANHATTAN CRIMINAL COURT — Authorities charged 10 Chinatown retailers with hawking illegal pesticides and rodenticides that are potentially deadly to adults and children, the Manhattan District Attorney said Monday.
The stores sold poisons labelled, "The Cat Be Unemployed," which was 40 to 60 times more potent than Environmental Protection Agency-certified rodent repellent chemicals, according to the Manhattan District Attorney's Office.
“The sale of illegal pesticides poses a direct threat to the health and safety of our community," DA Cyrus Vance Jr. said in a statement. "In the cases charged by our office, that threat was particularly imminent in the Chinatown neighborhood."
Some of the hazardous products "look and smell like cookie crumbs" and are especially dangerous to children, Vance said.
Authorities said they seized more than 6,000 packages of the illegal poisons from 14 local spots.
Those arrested Xue Chen, 53, Bi Ying Jiang, 51, Jin Rong Jiang, 34, Xiu Hua Lin, 49, Liu Wen Sheng, 47, Jinwen Wang, 55, Ji Hui Wang, 52 of Manhattan; Qi Lian Tan, 43 and Shi Wu, 45, of Brooklyn; and Yao Lzu, 56, of Queens.
Almost all were charged with more than 200 counts each of unlawful distribution, a misdemeanor, and other related charges. The arrests were the result of a joint investigation between federal and local law enforcement agencies.
