Makro given 30 days to explain alleged buying of smuggled pork
The Department of Special Investigation (DSI) has set a deadline of 30 days for the hypermart chain Makro to explain reports alleging that it has been buying fresh pork from a company whose owners have been arrested on smuggling charges.
The 30-day limit started on Monday (December 4), said Pol Maj Gen Natapol Ditsayatham, DSI’s expert on consumer protection and environment crime, who is leading the investigation.
He said that when the department had contacted Makro last month, it had asked for an indefinite stay on the explanation, saying it needed time to prepare documents.
On November 15 Makro, which is operated by CP Extra Plc, issued a statement denying that it has been buying pork from Wealthy & Healthy Foods Co Ltd.
The company’s president Wirat (last name withheld), 69, and his son Thanakrit, 42, were arrested at Suvarnabhumi Airport a day earlier.
The pair had been linked to a smuggling ring that shipped in thousands of tonnes of frozen pork from a neighbouring country between 2021 and early this year.
Makro said it had stopped purchasing pork from this company since the middle of last year after becoming aware that the product did not meet its hygiene and quality standards.
It also stopped purchasing pig liver from the firm, the statement said, adding that the purchase orders used to make these allegations were old ones.
The hypermart also insisted that it is willing to cooperate with the authorities in investigating the pork smuggling operation.
