Sa Kaeo: Authorities have destroyed 500 duck eggs seized from two passenger vans at Rong Kluea border market, heading into Thailand, following reports of an outbreak of bird flu in Cambodia.
At least five people are believed to have contracted the virus.
The two Thai-registered vans, which also had Cambodian workers on board, were transporting about 500 eggs between them.
One of the drivers, Wichai Thipchan, told officials a Cambodian national had asked him to take the workers and the eggs to tambon Bo Win in Chon Buri's Si Racha district. The other van stopped by police sometime later was heading for Bangkok.
Khlong Luek police chief Pol Col Seksan Wattanaphong said the eggs were impounded and buried after the H1N1 strain of the bird flu virus was detected in free-range ducks in villages in Cambodia's Battambang and Siem Reap provinces.
He cited a warning issued by the Mekong Basin Disease Surveillance network, which monitors communicable diseases along the Thai-Cambodian border.
It was reported that Cambodian public health officials were alerted to the bird flu outbreak after five villagers in Battambang contracted the disease.
Thai authorities have set up checkpoints to inspect passenger vehicles passing across the border.
According to authorities, the eggs were being smuggled into the country to be sold to migrant workers in eastern provinces.