The Tbong Khmum Provincial Court has released one of four men arrested for importing live pigs from Vietnam without a permit.
The four were busted by officials from the General Directorate of Animal Health and Production – in cooperation with Ponhea Kraek district police – on the night of May 29 after they tried to escape but hit a police car, damaging it.
District police deputy chief Hun Piseth said the investigating judge ordered the release of 31-year-old Kosal Chhay Hy on bail, but his three accomplices – Kosal Udom, 25; Ran Thearith, 17; and Phat Soksan, 25 – were to remain in pre-trial detention on charges of “disobeying the lawful order of public servants”.
Hun Sarath, deputy director of the provincial Department of Animal Health and Production, told The Post that his forces and those of the district police arrested the four men shortly after midnight.
“We seized 32 live pigs from their truck. There were no clear documents from the animals’ country of origin, so we sent them to the provincial animal department’s quarantine centre. We will take blood samples and test them for African swine fever,” he said.
