Pattaya: Central Investigation Bureau Police, together with the Department of Livestock Development, launched an operation to ‘drag out illegal pork intestines’ and found that Chinese smugglers rented a warehouse to store and ferment extremely shabby pork intestines, which emitted a foul smell. It is believed that they are being sold throughout Thailand.
According to Thai News Agency, the Central Investigation Bureau, represented by the Economic Crime Suppression Division and officers from the Department of Livestock Development, searched an unnamed warehouse in Tambon Om Noi, Amphoe Krathum Baen, Samut Sakhon Province. This action was taken pursuant to a search warrant from the Samut Sakhon Provincial Court after receiving information that the warehouse was smuggling salted pork sausages from China, selling them on social media, and producing them into sausages. It is believed that the products may have been imported into the Kingdom without going through customs procedures or paying taxes in full, which could lead to contamination with pathogens that are unsafe for consumers.
When arriving at the warehouse, the officers did not find anyone claiming to be the caretaker or the tenant. Later, they tracked down Ms. Chawadol, the owner of the warehouse for rent, to come and meet the officers and lead the search. They found that the warehouse was open-air, very dirty with dust and leaves. They also found many barrels and sacks of urea fertilizer in the warehouse. There were also animal intestines on the table, which were production equipment before export, which had been left until they rotted and gave off a foul smell.
In addition, when checking the contents of the various barrels, it was found that there were 514 barrels of salted animal intestines, believed to be salted pork intestines, each barrel weighing approximately 80 kg, valued at over 10 million baht. It is believed that the products were imported from abroad, as there were foreign languages on the barrels and there were also bags used to pack the pork intestines, which were not properly packed and may have germs or contaminants.
Initially, Ms. Chawadol, the owner of the warehouse, reported that all of the goods belonged to the renter, a Chinese man named Mr. Chen, who said that he would rent the warehouse to store fresh food, such as salt-baked and processed animal intestines. It is believed that the goods were to be delivered to various restaurants. The officers therefore seized the goods and collected samples of the animal intestines to test for the type and pathogens in order to take legal action against those involved.