'Injecting tranquilizers into pigs is a crime and must be prosecuted'

That is the affirmation of the Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Ho Chi Minh City that the act of injecting tranquilizers into pigs before slaughter is a crime and affirmed that he will investigate and handle at the highest disciplinary level, which is forced dismissal, if negative officials are discovered.

Reporting at the City Party Committee meeting on October 3, Mr. Nguyen Phuoc Trung said that he had assigned the Veterinary Department to coordinate with the interdisciplinary team to thoroughly and quickly handle the above pigs, provide full information to the press and post it publicly on the Department's website.

On the morning of October 3, veterinary and inter-sectoral agencies treated 1,995/3,780 pigs injected with sedatives and kept for treatment under the direction of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee.

The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has assigned the Department's inspectors to work with the environmental police to obtain sufficient information as a basis for thorough handling. In the immediate future, the Department has requested the Veterinary Department to suspend the team leader and two deputy team leaders out of 17 people involved to serve the investigation. The Department has also requested the leaders of the Veterinary Department, the Cu Chi District Veterinary Station and 17 related individuals to review themselves.

“This is a crime. I do not accept any case of complicity in this crime. If corruption is discovered here, it will be dealt with at the highest level, including dismissal. We have reminded the entire system and unit to always be vigilant, not to be negligent or subjective, and especially to maintain public ethics,” said Mr. Trung.

According to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, as of this morning, October 3, veterinary and inter-sectoral agencies have treated 1,995/3,780 pigs injected with sedatives that were kept for treatment according to the direction of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, and there are still 1,735 pigs left.

Mr. Trung said that there were 5 traders involved in this incident, and on the morning of October 3, 2 cases were handled. The remaining 3 cases did not comply. "Yesterday, these 3 groups of subjects lured about 40 people who were believed to be pig farmers to supply pigs to traders and slaughterhouses. We had to contact the leaders of Cu Chi district, requesting the mobilization of police forces to coordinate and support, ensuring security and order," Mr. Trung said.

The leader of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development also said that they are coordinating with the interdisciplinary inspection team to ensure that no pigs injected with tranquilizers are allowed to escape. “The Department has contacted Dong Thanh landfill to destroy the pigs injected with tranquilizers at a maximum processing capacity of 500 pigs per day. To handle such a large number of pigs, Dong Thanh landfill must receive 1,000 pigs per day to put in cold storage and then gradually destroy them. The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development is also contacting a number of other units to participate in the destruction,” said Mr. Trung.

According to Tien Phong Newspaper