6 held after raids on rare-breed eateries
Print Edition
SIX people have been detained on suspicion of trading in protected species for the catering business following raids on about 20 restaurants in southwest China’s Yunnan Province.
Police in Jiangcheng County, which is close to China’s borders with Vietnam and Laos, visited the eateries on Thursday after being alerted by an online video, the local publicity authority said.
According to a report by news website thepaper.cn, the restaurants’ menus featured numerous protected species, including macaque, muntjac deer, porcupine and jackal.
During the raids, officials rescued 22 animals, 21 of which were nationally protected, as well as 117 kilograms of meat and related products, the authority said.
Due to its proximity to national borders, and free trade agreement with Vietnam, Jiangcheng is ideally placed for the illicit trade in rare breeds, all of which command huge prices on restaurant menus, the report said.
As well as the six people detained, nine officials with the county government have been punished for failing to regulate and supervise the local food market, the authority said.
Four of them — He Shaoliang, the county’s forestry police chief, Li Kangyun, deputy head of the town of Qushui, Li Faqing, deputy director of the county’s industrial and commercial watchdog, and Jiang Dong, a senior forestry official — have been suspended from their posts, it said.
In a bid to prevent similar incidents happening in the future, the Jiangcheng government is in talks with authorities in Vietnam and Laos to increase cooperation in the fight against the illegal trade in wildlife.
In China, anyone found guilty of killing or trading in endangered wildlife can be jailed for up to 5 years.
It is not, however, an offense to eat such beasts.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
