Snr officials probed over chicken scare

The livestock chief of Nakhon Ratchasima’s Pak Chong district and the district police chief are being investigated following weekend raids on illegal slaughterhouses in Pak Chong district.

Nakhon Ratchasima Governor Raphee Phongbupphaki said on Wednesday that a panel will  look into whether  the two officials are guilty of negligence of duty.
The inquiry, headed by deputy governor Pititham Thitimontri, is expected to complete its work in three days, said Mr Raphee.  
The Pak Chong district chief, the district chief and two senior police officers from Pak Chong and Klang Dong police stations will be asked to testify before  4 pm on Wednesday.
The Pak Chong district chief, the district chief and two senior police officers from Pak Chong and Klang Dong police stations will be asked to testify before  4 pm on Wednesday.
The governor ordered the transfer of  provincial livestock chief Suksawat Thongnoi to an inactive post after  the contaminated meat scandal broke.

The raids on 11 illegal butcheries in Pak Chong which allegedly illegally bought chicken carcasses from farms and sold them for human consumption after treating them with formalin, a disinfectant solution of formaldehyde and water.  The chicken meat was sold within and outside the district.
Pol Col Wachirawit Kritrittisak, deputy chief of Nakhon Ratchasima police, said police are bringing at least  10 charges against operators of four illegal slaughterhouses in Pak Chong district.
They were among the 11 illegal butcheries raided during the weekend.
The suspects allegedly confessed they supplied butchered chicken corpses to fish and crocodile farms.  They told police they had bought the dead chickens from local  farmers through middlemen.
 The investigation team is gathering evidence against operators of the seven other butcheries, said Pol Col  Wachirawit.
 Police have not yet determined where the chickens came from.  An initial investigation suggested they came from farms in several provinces, including those in the Central Plains.
Pol Col Wachirawit on Wednesday ordered all police stations to set up road checkpoints to search trucks and other vehicles suspected of transporting chicken carcasses.