Explainer: The pork smuggling racket costing Thailand billions in damages

Thai consumers have been rocked by news that billions of baht in illegal pork has been smuggled into the country – and likely onto their dinner plates.

Thousands of shipping containers packed with smuggled pork have been discovered in warehouses and docks across the country in recent years. Authorities say the industrial-scale smuggling racket is hurting local pork farmers, reducing prices and raising the risk of disease.

Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin publicly admonished the director-general of the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) over the issue in early November, ordering urgent efforts to “catch the big fish” behind pork smuggling.

DSI chief Suriya Singhakamol found himself transferred out of the job a couple of weeks later with no explanation.

Just a day before his surprise transfer, Suriya had led a search of Makro headquarters in Bangkok, after a DSI…