A joint inspection team in Hanoi yesterday seized and destroyed over 1 ton of rotten and stinking animal organs and poultry meat that were allegedly smuggled into Vietnam from China. The team, including market management officers, anti-smuggling fighters and economic police officers, stopped a suspicious truck for examination when it was travelling near the Duong Bridge in Gia Lam District yesterday morning. The organs and meat were packed in cartons and plastic bags, on which there are many Chinese words. The truck’s driver, Ngo Van Loi, 38, a resident in Hanoi’s Soc Son District, failed to show the inspectors any documents related to the goods. Loi said he had been hired by an unknown trader to transport the goods from Noi Bai Airport to Gia Lam. Thanh Kien Trung, head of the police team for fighting smuggling and banned goods, said the rotten food likely originated from China. All the rotten organs and meat were destroyed in the afternoon the same day at the Nam Son landfill in Soc Son District.

A week ago, police in Hanoi’s Ha Dong District also seized 200 kg of rotten and stinking animal organs carried by a taxi of the Noi Bai Taxi Company. The police found five cartons containing rotten animal tripe, liver and heart and each carton was glued with a control stamp of Vietnam Airlines on which the flight number was shown.

The taxi driver, Le An Ninh, 35, also a resident in Hanoi’s Soc Son District, failed to show any documents about the goods.