Smuggling fears on chicken
CHINA - The government has acknowledged there are holes in its defenses aimed at halting poultry smuggling.Conservationists want authorities to stop the trafficking of poultry from the mainland, an act that they say occurs in broad daylight in Hong Kong waters.
The government does not carry out tests to determine if chickens on sale in village wet markets have been smuggled in. This is something that bothers conservationists.
"[Smugglers] are packing the frozen meat in China and saying it's from other sources. It's easy to just print a box," says Paul Hodgson, a reef specialist who runs a marine consultancy business in Sai Kung, and has spent time observing smugglers.
He said that, on one occasion, he had found more than 60 tonnes of chicken meat on the reefs, some of it in boxes marked "Belgium."
Smugglers use small fishing boats, called P4s, to offload poultry onto islands in New Territories country parks.
Source: The Standard
24 April 2006
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