Rotten carcasses continue to find their way into the city. Undeterred by crackdown, smugglers have devised new ways to transport illegal meat.
On Thursday, the police seized 1,100 kg of meat transported in a lorry from Andhra Pradesh. The lorry bearing registration number AP-26 TA2376 was intercepted by the police on Dr. Ambedkar College Road around 4.30 a.m. on Thursday. They grew suspicious during routine questioning and decided to inspect the packages in the lorry.
The police found ten packets of rotten meat which had been smuggled in from Nellore via road. Soon, officials of the Chennai Corporation’s health department reached the spot and analysed the samples. The meat was of inferior quality and making its way to shops and eateries in the city.
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The lorry driver confessed to having smuggled the meat for a city trader, Gajendran of Chintadripet. The corporation officials lodged a police complaint against Gajendran.
Earlier in September, the civic body had cracked down on business units in the city found smuggling carcasses from Nellore, Vijayawada and Kakinada in trains. Chennai Central and Egmore stations were the hubs of this illegal trade.
Even as the Corporation’s health department focuses on anti-mortem and post-mortem inspection of animals butchered in the three slaughter houses at Villivakkkam, Saidapet and Perambur, carcasses smuggled via road continue to escape scrutiny.
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Low price of spoilt meat continues to be the major reason for this thriving trade. Mutton, beef and chicken sold at establishments that indulge in this trade cost 40 per cent to 60 per cent less than authorised meat.
The carcasses seized by civic body officials on Thursday were destroyed at the Kodungaiyur dumping yard. So far, 15.36 tonnes of rotten meat have been smuggled into the city. Five business units in the city were sealed.