Illegal animal vaccines from China repackaged and disguised as liquor were seized at Kinmen Airport, Council of Agriculture (COA) officials said yesterday.
It was the first time such a great quantity of banned veterinary vaccines has been intercepted at the border, Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine Deputy Director-General Shih Tai-hua (施泰華) said.
A person at the airport appeared to be carrying 18 boxes of Kinmen kaoliang liquor to Taiwan, but a leak in a damaged box did not smell like alcohol, which alerted the airport police, the council said.
Photo: CNA
The person admitted the actual liquid in the bottles was a duck vaccine they had smuggled from China, but did not clarify what disease the vaccine was for, officials said.
Local media reported the vaccines to have been for avian influenza, but Shih denied this.
The substance is to be analyzed by the council’s Animal Health Research Institute and results are expected in a week, he said.
In Taiwan, poultry with avian flu is culled immediately, he said, adding that the council bans the use of vaccines on infected poultry.
Police seized a total 240 liters of vaccines, enough for 300,000 ducks, Coast Guard Administration Kinmen Mobile Investigation Team Deputy Chief Hsu Yu-sheng (許育勝) said.
Vaccines should be stored between 4°C and 8°C or they could spoil, but the smuggler did not use any refrigeration, Kinmen Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection Director Wen Shui-cheng (文水成) said, adding that some bottles contained dead flies.
Spoilt vaccines could give rise to new viruses and if animals were to be administered such vaccines, the consequences would be unimaginable, Wen added.
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