Officials suggest that sea shipments bring the meat to the Thai-Malaysian border and other coastal provinces on the Gulf of Thailand and Andaman Sea. Refrigerated trucks that carry other goods, such as fish and other perishable products, have hidden compartments that contain tonnes of illegal meat. Means of transport include pickup trucks, aircraft, and trawlers which bring the goods to piers at Samut Sakhon. The official said the smugglers receive from 15 to 30 baht a kilo as soon as the shipments arrive at cold storage in Bangkok or the suburbs. To curb the smuggling, 24-hour checkpoints operate at Chumphon, Prachuab Khiri Khan and Phetchaburi.
Officers randomly check cold storage areas.
Suspects are charged with breaking the Animal Epidemic Law. About 180,000 diary cattle may be vaccinated against the disease. Meanwhile, the disease is not only affecting meat exports, but also tourism and even elections. Thousands of British troops and about 12,000 vets including hundreds from Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Holland, New Zealand, Spain, Sweden and the United States are helping to control the disease. British troops dug a massive grave at an unused airstrip in Cumbria in which to bury up to 500,000 animals killed simply on suspicion of FMD without waiting for positive laboratory tests.