Alleged Dog Meat Found At An Ice Factory In Kolkata

During a night-long raid, a Kolkata police has found 20 tonnes of meat in an ice factory, Rajabazar, on 26 April 2018. The police believe that it could be the meat of stray dogs and cats. Police recently arrested 9 people in the case so far.

3 out of the 9 people arrested, claim that the carcass meat was mostly of stray dogs and cats. However, Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC ) has advised to take caution and scientific tests before drawing any conclusion.

The carcass meat was found packed neatly in 1,000 packets, each weight 20 kg, allegedly mixed with fresh meat. These packets sold to hotels and restaurants after being treated with chemicals at -44 °C for 4 to 5 days.

MMIC, Atin Ghosh said they were in touch with Central Forensic Science Laboratory to test the meat.  The Budge Budge police, which is handling the probe, is also getting the meat tested independently. Experts, however, feel a very accurate detection would prove difficult, given that fresh meat was mixed with carcass meat.

“We have arrested Malik based on a tip-off from those we had nabbed earlier. During initial questioning, the accused revealed the carcasses were picked up from the dumpyards of Budge Budge, Sonarpur and even Kalyani. Supplies from other dumping grounds within a 50km radius of Kolkata cannot be ruled out,”said Koteswar Rao, the South 24 Parganas SP.

According to police sources, Malik kept informers at each dumping yard in and around greater Kolkata, preferably municipal staffers, who tipped Malik about any carcass being dumped in the yard. For each tip-off, the informers fetched Rs 100. Within hours, a team would take either a van or a taxi to the spot.

They always carried ice with them. After cutting off the meat, it would be brought to the Rajabazar cold storage, where the meat was further extracted and chemically processed at -44 °C for five days. The cops said the layer of fat was removed to decrease decay. A white powdery chemical was used to treat the meat, said a source. The chemical has also been sent for tests.

The frozen meat would then be packed in small packets along with fresh meat, with local company names printed on top, and sold to restaurants. Worse, sometimes fake labels of reputable companies used to be printed on the packets and sold in the local market.

“These would be consumed as sausages, meatballs, ham and salami, an investigator claimed. The carcass-meat industry had grown both in size and profit in the last four years under Malik. There are several layers to this fraud and criminal conspiracy, and a thorough time-consuming probe will be required,” said a senior investigating officer.

Local people alleged that meat retrieved from dead animals was being regularly supplied to hotels and restaurants in Kolkata. This immediately triggered panic and rumour, prompting the police to initiate a probe.

Carcasses of all kinds of animals, including cow, pig and dog, are usually dumped at this ground.

“It was the questioning of these two men that helped us nab Malik and others after repeated raids around Sealdah and Rajabazar,” said a police source.

Reference: The Times Of India

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