(FILE) A Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) employee measures a radiation level of 213 microsieverts per hour in front of the No.2 (L) and No.3 reactor buildings at TEPCO's tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Okuma town, Fukushima prefecture, Japan, 10 February 2016. Police from the eastern Chinese port city of Qingdao have arrested 14 people suspected of smuggling seafood with high radiation levels from waters near Fukushima, the Japanese prefecture affected by the 2011 nuclear disaster, reported state broadcaster CCTV. EPA/TORU HANAI / POOL

(FILE) An exhibitor sprays water on fish products on show at the Shanghai International Fisheries & Seafood Expo in Shanghai, China, 07 December 2012. Police from the eastern Chinese port city of Qingdao have arrested 14 people suspected of smuggling seafood with high radiation levels from waters near Fukushima, the Japanese prefecture affected by the 2011 nuclear disaster, reported state broadcaster CCTV. EPA/WU HONG

(FILE) A Chinese vendor takes a rest amid stalls of meat and seafood at a public market in Beijing, China, 11 September 2015. Police from the eastern Chinese port city of Qingdao have arrested 14 people suspected of smuggling seafood with high radiation levels from waters near Fukushima, the Japanese prefecture affected by the 2011 nuclear disaster, reported state broadcaster CCTV. EPA/ROLEX DELA PENA

(FILE) Local fishermen unload fish from boats trawling the waters near the destroyed nuclear power plants at Soma port, Fukushima prefecture Japan, 26 February 2016. Police from the eastern Chinese port city of Qingdao have arrested 14 people suspected of smuggling seafood with high radiation levels from waters near Fukushima, the Japanese prefecture affected by the 2011 nuclear disaster, reported state broadcaster CCTV. EPA/EVERETT KENNEDY BROWN

Police from the eastern Chinese port city of Qingdao have arrested 14 people suspected of smuggling seafood with high radiation levels from waters near Fukushima, the Japanese prefecture affected by the 2011 nuclear disaster, reported state broadcaster CCTV.

The gang had smuggled 5,000 tons of seafood, including king crab and shrimp, worth $34.5 million, into China over the last two years.

Part of the seafood was sourced from Fukushima, one of the 12 Japanese prefectures banned from exporting marine products to China following the March 11, 2011 earthquake that triggered a tsunami and led to a nuclear catastrophe in the region.

The smugglers transported the goods from the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido to Vietnam, where they changed the labels to evade taxes as well as sanitary controls, the Qingdao police told CCTV.

Most of these products were sold in large Chinese cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

Chinese experts say food products with high levels of radiation can cause irreversible damage to human cells and even the DNA, according to local media reports.

They also warn radiation continues to negatively impact marine life in the vicinity of Fukushima, although five years have passed since the disaster.