Tuan said the pigs’ owners concealed their names and did not come along.

Officials found on the truck 34 cartons, each containing parts of 25 piglets, and 13 baskets, each holding 20 live piglets.

Animal health officials in the province said the pigs came from Thang Binh, Que Son and Duy Xuyen districts, where blue ear outbreaks had been reported recently.

The province’s health officials had earlier culled 2,400 pigs found with the blue ear disease.

Reported by Ho Trong