KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah Agriculture and Fisheries Ministry will carry out extensive measures to weed out the smuggling of frozen chicken meat into the state.

       Its Assistant Minister Datuk James Ratib said the measures were needed to ascertain the halal status of chicken meat coming into Sabah as well as to ensure the supplies in the market were not affected.

       Following his visit to the Veterinary Services Department at the Sepanggar Bay Container Port near here on Thursday (June 16), he said he had found such activities on the rise now.

       “I also found that the method to monitor such smuggling activities was lacking.

       “As a result, I will impose large-scale measures to curb such activities in Sabah,” he said after his visit on Thursday (June 16).

       James said sufficient numbers of enforcement officers will be placed at ports in the state to allow for more stringent checks on containers coming into Sabah.

       “I will also deploy several vehicles to follow container trailers which are suspected by the ministry to be transporting items that have been falsely declared to their destinations,” he said.

       He said that the smuggling of chicken meat into Sabah will raise questions on the halal status of such supplies.

       “The halal issue will be of concern, especially to Muslim consumers. Besides that, the smuggling of chicken into Sabah will also lead to leakages and will directly affect the revenue collection by the state government.

       “That’s why we can’t let this matter go on unchecked,” James said.

       Towards this end, he issued a warning to those intending to carry out such activities to stop indefinitely, saying the authorities will not compromise with people found committing such offences.