A restaurant owner and a market vendor who advertised and sold meat they said was from wild game face charges of fraud after it proved to be from domestic pigs.
Nipon Chamnongsirisak, director of the 3rd Conservation Administration Office in Ban Pong, said on Thursday that the Rabiangprai restaurant in tambon Thasao of Sai Yok district had advertised the sale of wild meat – barking deer, deer and wild boar.
An official posing as a customer had been sent to buy one kilo of deer meat from the restaurant. The given price was 290 baht.
After buying the meat, the official told Ms Supawadee who he was before going to Sai Yok police station, where police made a note of the sale as evidence.
The meat was sent to a wildlife forensic science unit for DNA testing, Mr Nipon said.
Another official was later sent to buy one kilo of barking deer meat from a vending stall at Muang municipal market in Kanchanaburi.
The stall was run by Pornnaphat Kanchanasrikul. That meat was also sent for DNA testing.
The DNA tests showed that the meat from both places was farmed pork, not deer or barking deer as advertised, Mr Nipon said.
He led the officials who bought the meat to file complaints with Sai Yok and Muang police, so they could take action against the restaurant owner and the vendor for false advertising.
A charge under Section 271 of the Criminal Code carries a maximum penalty of 3 years in prison and/or fine of 60,000 baht.
A charge under Section 47 of the Consumer Protection Act carries a jail term of up to six months and/or a fine of 50,000 baht.
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