State health executive councillor A Sivanesan said the department raided the facilities after receiving complaints that the carcasses were smuggled from a country not permitted by Putrajaya for the import of pork meat, Bernama reported.

He added that the carcasses were not slaughtered at a licensed or approved slaughterhouse.

The carcasses had also shown clinical signs of ASF, while samples taken by the Ipoh veterinary research institute confirmed that they had the disease.

“All the pork carcasses, amounting to 25,142kg, were seized for further investigation,” he said.

The operator of the two cold storage premises was found to have committed an offence under the Animal Act 1953 for possessing pig carcasses that were not slaughtered at an approved or licensed slaughterhouse.

According to Sivanesan, the carcasses were disposed of on Nov 28 and Nov 29 after obtaining an order from the Ipoh magistrates’ court.

“The authorities have also disinfected both premises. The actions of the owners of the premises could cause the disease to spread further and threaten the pig industry in the state and country,” he said.

Sivanesan added that a total of nine ASF cases have been detected among wild boars in Perak between December 2021 and October this year. The first case was reported in December 2021.

Since then, 18 cases of ASF have been reported in commercial pig farms.

“The latest positive case of ASF was on Oct 27 in Tronoh, Perak. To date, about 19,285 ASF-infected pigs have been culled,” he added.