BANGKOK, July 10 (TNA) – In an attempt to enforce
surveillance against African swine fever, Thai officials have seized over 300
frozen pigs suspected to have been smuggled from neighboring countries.
Thailand has imposed a ban on live pigs and carcasses in an
effort to prevent the deadly disease from spreading into Thailand.
The Thai Department of Development of Livestock and police
raided the warehouse in Bangkok on Tuesday and found 336 frozen pigs without
documents indicating the source.
They believed the pigs had been smuggled from neighboring
countries into the kingdom for distribution to restaurants.
An owner of the warehouse has been charged for breaching
animal disease control law and regulation on animal slaughtering.
The Department said four of the frozen pigs would be sent to
lab sanitary tests and to determine the origin.
The ban is enforced after African swine fever outbreak was
confirmed in Laos last month. The deadly
disease is fatal to pigs but does not harm humans.
Millions of pigs have been slaughtered in China, Hong Kong
and Vietnam in the attempts to stop the spread of the disease. (TNA)