Sunday, June 18, 2006
HK fights poultry smuggling to keep out bird flu
Authorities in Hong Kong stepped up customs checks at the weekend to stamp out poultry smuggling after a truck driver was found infected by the H5N1 bird flu virus across the border in mainland China.
More officers were deployed at Hong Kong’s four land border checkpoints and the territory beefed up examination of suspicious cargoes and baggage at sea and air boundaries.
The new effort, codenamed “Operation Parrot”, began on Saturday.
Hong Kong suspended imports of live poultry from mainland China Friday after the truck driver was confirmed to be infected with the H5N1 avian influenza virus.
The 31-year-old driver lives in Shenzhen, just over the border from Hong Kong. It is unclear how he came to be infected with the avian influenza virus although he went shopping at a wet market where live poultry was sold a few days before he fell ill.
He also ate a chicken which his wife prepared.