Shell game over.
The owner of a Chinatown fish market was arrested yesterday for allegedly selling dangerously dirty clams that she smuggled in on the luggage racks of passenger buses, sources told The Post.
Jin Hua Ke, 51, faces up to four years in jail if convicted of illegal commercialization of wildlife and other charges.
Tests showed high levels of fecal matter and other bacteria that made the claims unfit for human consumption, said Department of Environmental Conservation police, who are investigating the clam scam along with Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.
“Bottom line is this: Would you want to eat something stored in the luggage cart of a bus since at least Philadelphia?” said DEC Officer Brent Wilson.
Authorities estimate that more than 5,400 pounds of freshwater clams — illegal to import and sell in New York — were trucked from Southern states and delivered to the New Lin Sichuan Fish Market, at 30 Market St., over six months.
Packaged in burlap, about a dozen packages would arrive on each bus Mondays and Tuesdays, according to local shopkeepers.