The journey to dismantle the network smuggling diseased pigs to the market.

At 1 AM, a 39-year-old male detective from the Hanoi City Police left his unit to conduct an on-site investigation into irregularities at the Van Phuc livestock and poultry slaughterhouse.

Information indicates that the Van Phuc facility has 29 centralized slaughterhouses, divided into enclosed U-shaped sections. The slaughterhouses operate from midnight to 4 am the following morning, with security guards and quarantine officers constantly stationed at checkpoints outside the gates.

At the Van Phuc facility, signs of violations by Nguyen Thi Hien, 31 years old, owner of slaughterhouse B6 in the centralized slaughtering area, have emerged.

As food safety violations gradually came to light, along with other suspicions of misconduct by veterinary officials, Team 7 reported the matter to the head of the Economic Police Department, who proposed that the City Police Directorate place the suspects under surveillance.

According to an officer from Team 7, based on information from Hien, the police discovered a new lead: Do Van Thanh, 43 years old, a “ringleader” in the former Vinh Phuc province. A team of detectives immediately fanned out to monitor Thanh’s area of ​​operation.

The slaughterhouse is located in Van Phuc commune, formerly Thanh Tri district. Photo: Linh Dan

Every day, Thanh drives his truck to collect pigs in the former Vinh Phuc and Tuyen Quang provinces, looking for households with “farm” pigs – meaning pigs that are sick – in order to buy them cheaply.

“If one or two pigs in a pen stop eating or show signs of illness, the owner has to sell them all. Thanh collects them all and transports them to sell to slaughterhouse owners in Van Phuc,” an investigator recounted.

The pigs Thanh bought all lacked inspection certificates. However, to get them into Hanoi, Thanh used inner-city pig sales contracts to legitimize their entry into the slaughterhouse.

By early March, Thanh contacted Vu Kim Tuan, an officer at the Animal Diagnosis, Testing and Quarantine Center, under the Department of Animal Husbandry, Fisheries and Veterinary Medicine of Phu Tho province. Because Tuan had the authority to issue quarantine certificates, Thanh requested that he be issued a “quarantine certificate”.

With this permit, Thanh freely transported sick pigs to the Van Phuc facility to sell to slaughterhouse owners. Each time, he would bring about 50-60 pigs. In addition, Thanh also hired Hien to slaughter pigs for him at a rate of 100,000 VND per pig so he could sell the meat elsewhere.

The trick of mixing healthy pigs with diseased pigs.

According to authorities, sick pigs die within a few days, so Hien usually slaughters them immediately after importing them and sells them on the same day to Cuong Phat Food Co., Ltd. and some small traders at wholesale markets, including Nga Tu So market.

When purchasing, Cuong Phat usually chooses small pigs to keep the price low. If the pigs are healthy, the company buys them for 70,000-80,000 VND/kg; if they are sick or have yellow spots, the price is 40,000-60,000 VND/kg.

Scenes of pig slaughtering in the Van Phuc area were recorded. Photo: Provided by the police.

On the night of March 16th and the early morning of March 17th, Team 7 launched a coordinated operation to crack the case. At Hien’s slaughterhouse, investigators observed that 68 pigs had just been brought in from Thanh, including 11 live pigs, 17 pigs being slaughtered, and the rest had been sold to Cuong Phat and a small-scale customer. Tests confirmed that 244 kg of the seized pigs from Hien tested positive for African Swine Fever.

After importing 15 pigs from Hien, Cuong Phat Company divided them into smaller portions to prepare for delivery to catering companies. Of these, 167 kg tested positive for African swine fever.

At Thanh’s house in the former Vinh Phuc province, police recorded 75 pigs, but 2 of them tested positive for African swine fever.

The total amount of goods seized that day was 30 tons. The police determined that, from the beginning of 2026 until now, this group had sold approximately 3,600 diseased and healthy pigs (equivalent to nearly 300 tons) to the market.

Following the violations, Hien, along with Thanh, Nguyen Thi Binh, and Nguyen Van Thanh (Director of Cuong Phat Food Co., Ltd.) were prosecuted for violating food safety regulations; veterinary officer Vu Kim Tuan, 53 years old, an officer of the Department of Animal Husbandry, Fisheries and Veterinary Medicine of Phu Tho province, was investigated for forgery in official duties .

Veterinary officers’ own rules

In addition to the aforementioned actions, the police determined that a number of veterinary officials also committed violations. At the Van Phuc slaughterhouse area, the Hanoi Livestock, Fisheries and Veterinary Sub-Department under the Department of Agriculture and Environment had a “Slaughter Control Team” stationed right there.

Nguyen Phong Nam, 43, and Nguyen Thi Phuong Lan, 42, are neighborhood watch leaders, along with 23 other officers divided into three shifts, ensuring 24/7 coverage. The station chief is Le Ngoc Anh, 52, who is in charge of all matters.

The suspects have been arrested. Photo: Provided by the police .

According to regulations, traders transporting pigs to slaughterhouses daily must present a quarantine certificate or documents proving the origin of the pigs. After checking the documents and the pigs’ clinical condition, control officers will allow them to be transported in if they are deemed to meet the requirements.

After slaughter, the inspectors will check the head, internal organs, kidneys, and meat. If there are no abnormalities and veterinary hygiene is ensured, the inspectors will “stamp the slaughter control seal” so that customers can transport it to the market.

However, investigators determined that the veterinary officers had “made their own rules” to collect money. For pigs under 80 kg, they automatically considered them sick and demanded extra money from drivers before allowing them to transport the pigs to the slaughterhouse. Even drivers with sales contracts or quarantine certificates had to pay 100,000 VND per truck carrying healthy pigs. For trucks carrying sick pigs, the veterinary officers would collect 500,000 to 1 million VND, or even 4-5 million VND.

“The quarantine officers at the slaughterhouse ignored the control procedures. They knew the pigs were sick but still allowed them into the slaughterhouse,” said an officer from Team 7.

Inside the Van Phuc slaughterhouse, Nam also demanded that some slaughterhouse owners pay him 20-30 million VND per month, because he had discovered that these facilities were slaughtering both diseased and healthy pigs. Since such payments would not be profitable, the owners asked Nam to reduce the amount to 5-10 million VND.

Regarding this group of veterinary officials, the police have initiated legal proceedings against Ngoc Anh, Nam, and Lan to investigate the crime of abusing their positions and authority to misappropriate assets.