Flooded with illegal chickens at the end of the year

Although the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development affirmed that the domestic food supply during the Lunar New Year is quite abundant, and in the past 1-2 weeks, the prices of pork and chicken have even tended to decrease, but from the northern border gate, smuggled chickens are still flooding in...

Crossing the border to hunt illegal chickens

For many years, Bao Lam commune (Dong Dang - Lang Son) located near the border has emerged as a hot spot for collecting smuggled chickens and discarded chickens from China. At night, hundreds of "cuu van" and all kinds of motorbikes often appear here, taking shortcuts through trails and mountain peaks to "catch" chickens from the other side into Lang Son. After that, the chickens are transported straight to Thuy Hung commune located near National Highway 1A for assembly, then wait until the next night to be loaded onto trucks to transport them downstream.

With the help of a “cuu van” named H., we infiltrated Lung Vai chicken market (Bang Tuong - China) to see the smuggled chickens. Upon meeting him, H. asked: “You guys went to Dong Dang at 12:15, drove a red car, wore a green shirt, and ate at Mrs. Sau’s restaurant near the Dong Dang market gate, right?”. We were surprised, H. said: “Here, there are more “owls” than locals, spread out over every kilometer, with the sole task of following strangers coming here.” However, H. still agreed to take us to Lung Vai. He gave us a set of old clothes and told us, “If anyone asks, tell them to go find the owner.”

We went around the Coc border station.Maleto Lung Vai. Every so often, there would be people lying on hammocks, in huts on the edge of the forest, reaching out to collect a fee of 5,000 VND to pass. The road from Bao Lam commune to Lung Vai market is only 1.5 km but it takes more than an hour to get through. Along the way, goods are piled up, mainly clothes and shoes. At some points, there are groups of "cuu van" sitting around resting, even playing dice and cards waiting for the "customs clearance" time. At the foot of the hill is a two-room house, H. said that it is where the Chinese militia sells tickets. Through that door is Lung Vai market.

The traders themselves revealed that 60% of the chickens imported to Ha Vy poultry market (Thuong Tin - Hanoi) are smuggled from China.

Along the way to the market, goods were everywhere. Vietnamese vendors sat in makeshift tents made of canvas and blankets to watch for their goods to arrive. The chicken selling area was at the end of the market, with a warehouse and a parking lot for cars. Dozens of Vietnamese “cuu van” (porters), some standing, some sitting, carried shoulder poles, with tiny flashlights on their hips, along with hundreds of wooden and iron round and square chicken cages, ready to carry chickens back to Vietnam.

A moment later, 5-ton trucks with Chinese license plates loaded with chickens rushed into the market. A group of porters surrounded us, took the chickens from the trucks and stuffed them into cages, each cage held about 15-20 chickens, then, following orders, drove them to the border area to Lang Son. Hundreds of flashlights were turned on, shimmering in the cold night at the end of the year. We also joined the porter group. Perhaps because it was dark, the "owls" could not recognize us. After walking for a long time, we realized that we had arrived at Kheo Kham village, Dong Dang, Lang Son land.

From Kheo Kham, the chickens were loaded onto dozens of waiting Minks trucks, transported at night to Thuy Hung commune, then waited for the opportunity to be loaded onto trucks, transported to Bac Giang, Hanoi and even drove all night into the Central and Southern regions. A chicken driver said that once they left Lang Son, it was difficult to confirm that the chickens were illegal. However, to legalize illegal chickens, truck owners and chicken drivers came up with a trick of bringing the chickens to gather and exchange at the two largest and second largest chicken markets in the North, Ha Vy and Dai Xuyen markets (Hanoi). To even legalize illegal chickens as domestic chickens, drivers also bought fake quarantine certificates from farm owners to present to veterinary inspection agencies at checkpoints along the national highway. Thus, illegal chickens were labeled as farm-raised chickens.

The price difference is too high

According to the Ha Vy Market Management Board, nearly 100 tons of chicken are imported every night to sell to small retailers or to be collected and sent to the Central and Southern regions. However, Mr. Nguyen Van Chinh, a trader here, revealed that the chickens brought to the market come in all varieties, originating from farms in Dong Anh, Soc Son (Hanoi) or Bac Giang, but 60% of the chickens are from China. His store alone imports 800-1,000 chickens every day, but up to 500 are from China because selling this type of chicken is more profitable. The difference between buying and selling Chinese chickens is 7 prices, the loss rate is 0.25% plus other costs, he makes a profit of 400,000 VND for each quintal of Chinese chicken. But with the same type, he only makes a profit of 150,000 VND for each quintal of domestic chicken. "That's why people risk selling Chinese chickens," he confided.

Due to long distance transportation, many Chinese chickens die when they arrive at Ha Vy market. Many people hire people in Ha Vy village to kill them for 5,000 VND/bird, then sell them to cheap restaurants for only 20,000 VND/kg, while the market price for healthy chickens of the same type is 45,000 VND/kg. Many traders even use chemicals to dye the chickens yellow like local chickens, then sell them in the markets.

At the year-end disease control meeting of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Son, Deputy Director of the Department of Animal Husbandry, also said that although there were many smuggled chickens, he did not understand why when checking at the two wholesale markets, Ha Vy and Dai Xuyen, they found that the poultry still had quarantine papers.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Diep Kinh Tan suggested that although there is currently no outbreak of disease in livestock and poultry, it is necessary to strictly control the source of smuggled poultry into the country to prevent the disease from spreading and causing dangerous outbreaks again. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development also suggested that the Ministry of Transport strengthen inspections of national highways, not allowing vehicles to illegally transport poultry, especially not allowing passenger car owners to transport poultry with passengers. In addition, Mr. Tan also requested the leaders of the Department of Animal Health to be more aggressive in cleaning up the veterinary staff in the face of the phenomenon of officers taking advantage of their assigned duties to provide fake quarantine certificates to illegal animal traders, legalizing illegal chickens.

According to SGGP