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Source: https://www.insider.com/meat-smuggle...-china-2021-11
Daring smugglers ferry millions of dollars of illegal, unregulated meat into China each year via Hong Kong's waterways, and the government can't seem to stop them
Thousands of pounds of meat — some of it decades old — are smuggled via high-speed boats into China each year in an aim to satisfy the country's growing appetite for beef, pork, and chicken.
3 hours ago
It sounds like a scene straight out of an action flick: speedboats flying across the channel between Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland under the clandestine cover of darkness, fleeing police hot on their tail.
But in this story, these boats carry an unlikely bounty: stashes of frozen meat, often dubiously refrigerated and unregulated.
As China's economy has grown, so has its appetite for meat. The country's meat consumption has been steadily rising since the 1960s. To satisfy the increasing demand, smugglers are sneaking millions of pounds of pork, poultry, and fish into the country via Hong Kong — sometimes with deadly consequences.
In September, a police officer was killed during an attempt to intercept a smuggling vessel in Hong Kong's waters. She and three other colleagues fell into the sea when their boat capsized. Last January, three customs officers died when their patrol boat crashed while in pursuit of a smugglers' craft, per the Hong Kong Free Press (HKFP)....
Daring smugglers ferry millions of dollars of illegal, unregulated meat into China each year via Hong Kong's waterways, and the government can't seem to stop them
Thousands of pounds of meat — some of it decades old — are smuggled via high-speed boats into China each year in an aim to satisfy the country's growing appetite for beef, pork, and chicken.
3 hours ago
It sounds like a scene straight out of an action flick: speedboats flying across the channel between Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland under the clandestine cover of darkness, fleeing police hot on their tail.
But in this story, these boats carry an unlikely bounty: stashes of frozen meat, often dubiously refrigerated and unregulated.
As China's economy has grown, so has its appetite for meat. The country's meat consumption has been steadily rising since the 1960s. To satisfy the increasing demand, smugglers are sneaking millions of pounds of pork, poultry, and fish into the country via Hong Kong — sometimes with deadly consequences.
In September, a police officer was killed during an attempt to intercept a smuggling vessel in Hong Kong's waters. She and three other colleagues fell into the sea when their boat capsized. Last January, three customs officers died when their patrol boat crashed while in pursuit of a smugglers' craft, per the Hong Kong Free Press (HKFP)....
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