A Taichung egg farm operator was today detained by prosecutors and held incommunicado on suspicion of illegally disposing of chickens that died of avian influenza.
The Taichung District Court approved the detention, finding that the operator of Fengkang Egg Ranch in Taichung's Fengyuan District (豐原), surnamed Yun (雲), met the legal criteria to be held in custody.
A separate suspect, surnamed Yen (顏), who owns land in Miaoli County where some of the dead chickens were allegedly buried, was released on NT$200,000 bail and barred from changing residence, the court said.
Photo courtesy of the Taichung City Government
On Jan. 10, chickens at Fengkang Egg Ranch began showing symptoms of avian influenza, with large numbers dying from Jan. 10 through Monday last week, the Taichung City government said.
Investigators allege that Yun concealed the outbreak and disposed of some dead chickens by burying them at his residence, while transporting others to Miaoli County to dump and bury them there.
Prosecutors said they searched the farm and Yun's residence, and questioned Yun, two employees and Yen.
After a second round of questioning late yesterday, Yun is suspected of contravening the Waste Disposal Act (廢棄物清理法) by illegally dumping hazardous business waste, failing to properly dispose of waste as a business operator and committing fraud under the Criminal Code, prosecutors said.
Yen is suspected of illegally allowing hazardous waste to be dumped and buried on his land without approval from authorities, prosecutors said.
The outbreak has been contained, and there is no evidence that it has spread to other poultry farms, after all chickens at the affected site were culled and large quantities of eggs, feed and bedding materials were destroyed, the city government said.
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