Royal Thai Police yesterday blocked a racketeer’s attempt to smuggle 779 kilograms of pork into Thailand from Cambodia.
The suspect, Soroun Suot, was caught driving his white Toyota truck on Highway 359 from Sa Kaew to Khao Hin Sorn, based on police.
The forty two yr previous Cambodian admitted to receiving the shipment from a contact at the border in the Aranyaprathet district, with directions to deliver it to a retailer in Bangkok for five,000 baht.
Soroun was charged underneath the Customs Act and Animal Epidemics Act and sent for interrogation at Muang Sa Kaew Police Station.
This incident highlights the continued drawback of pork smuggling in Thailand, which threatens to break the country’s pig business. Smuggled pork usually comes from international locations affected by African Swine Fever (ASF), a highly transmissible viral illness that poses no risk to human well being however can decimate swine farms and result in excessive rates of demise among herds.
Last yr, the Swine Raisers Association of Thailand warned that rampant pork smuggling was a serious threat to the Thai pig business. Thailand itself confirmed the presence of ASF in January 2022, when the virus was discovered at a slaughterhouse in Nakhon Pathom.
This just isn’t an isolated case as several different smuggling food cases have been reported in Thailand in the past 12 months.
In February, eight people have been arrested for trying to smuggle 7,500 kilograms of pork into the country. In March, 1,500 kilograms of frozen pork and hen wings had been seized in Nakhon Ratchasima province within the country’s northeast.
In 2018, Thai authorities seized over 10,000 kilograms of smuggled pork from Vietnam, which was discovered to be contaminated with ASF. And in 2020, the Thai Department of Livestock Development intercepted a cargo of 120 kilograms of pork from Malaysia, which was additionally contaminated with ASF.
Insane of smuggled pork highlights the continuing challenges going through Thai authorities in their efforts to prevent the unfold of ASF and shield the country’s pig trade. While it’s unclear how a lot of the smuggled pork has already made its means into the country, the Thai authorities have despatched the seized meat for hygienic disposal to stop any potential unfold of the virus..