Scavenging tales scare off consumers

Mad rush: Scavengers cleaning chicken wings that were dug up earlier.

SIBU: People here have stopped buying chicken wings following reports that scavengers dug out five containers of chicken wings disposed by the Customs Department at a site near Bukit Aup park.

Chicken stall operators in all the markets say business is down by as much as 80%.

The incident went viral on social media after scores of people rushed to Bukit Aup where five containers of smuggled chicken wings were buried there last Friday.

The Customs Department took the drastic action to throw away the chicken wings because they were imported without a permit.

However, nearby villagers came in droves the next day to dig up the frozen meat. Some sold the wings cheaply at RM6 per kg. (The market price is RM12.)

Chairman of Sibu Central Market Hawkers Welfare Association Tan Hong Kiang said the sellers were hard hit by the incident.

A seller at the central market who wished to be identified only as Sia, 32, said: “My supplier is a licensed importer but people were still worried. They asked whether it was safe to eat chicken wings. In the end, many did not buy,” he said.

Ting Leong Sing, who is selling local chicken wings, said: “People are simply scared of even buying local ones,” he said.

On Tuesday, a man who wished to be identified as Mike said his brother bought the chicken wings from some of the scavengers who came to his house at Kampung Jeriah, some 20km from Bukit Aup.

“They sold the wings at RM7 to my brother. It was cheap compared to the normal price of between RM10 and RM12 per kg,” said Mike.

Mike said these scavengers had been going house-to-house selling the wings. Meanwhile, a source said the Customs Department was still holding 35 containers of seized chicken wings.

“They had confiscated 40 containers and have disposed five containers of chicken wings. The wings were sprayed with pesticide and chlorox before disposal,” said the source who is from the shipping industry.

Sibu Customs Department assistant director Abdul Razak Amin told newsmen yesterday they were not authorised to make any statement.