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Illegal poultry trade network uncovered in Lithuania

Xinhua, January 22, 2016 Adjust font size:

Lithuanian police, tax authorities, and prosecutors announced on Thursday they had uncovered a network of illegal poultry trade in Lithuania.

The news was disclosed after a secret investigation that included 237 raids on 17 companies, warehouses and markets, according to an announcement from the Lithuanian Police Department.

During the investigation, the officials found more than 11 metric tons of illegal meat and an illegal manufactory that had been conducting meat production under unsanitary conditions.

According to prosecutors, the illegal and unsafe poultry had been traded all across the country.

"We suspect the documents were falsified in order to change the expiration dates," Rolandas Kiskis, the chief of the Lithuanian criminal police bureau, told local media in a press conference.

In his words, the illegal trading network included legal as well as illegal companies. "Thousands of tons" of meat have entered the Lithuanian market, according to Kiskis.

During the last five years, the suspected persons and companies illegally sold around 2,000 tons of meat production worth more than 6.5 million euros (7.04 million U.S. dollars). The damage caused to the country in the form of unpaid taxes amounts to around 2 million euros, according to the officials.

Ten suspects have been detained. In total, 36 persons received allegations of fraud, said the country's police.

The investigation may lead to more scrutiny of Lithuania's State Food and Veterinary Service, the highest veterinary watchdog in the country. According to prosecutor Simonas Slapsinskas, during the raids, officials found out that the suspected companies had earlier been examined by the State Food and Veterinary Service, and the service hadn't found any violations.

"One of the possible directions of the investigation will be to assess how these examinations are conducted," Slapsinskas told the news conference.

In his words, currently, the probability of purchasing the unsafe poultry is minimal. Endit