Carrion calling: Something rotten in the streets of Bhakkar

Cops book 3 for feeding people snakes, crows and dogs at local restaurant.

BHAKKAR:

Railway police have arrested three people for selling the carrion meat of snakes, crows and dogs in the district.

According to police officials, the accused were passing the meat off as quail, chicken, swan and deer and sending it all over the province. “They were branding the meat as specially treated meat from Bhakkar. They said it was prize game even though it was carrion,” said inspector Mubeen.

Police officials unearthed a local slaughter house, where the accused were operating. “The slaughter house was being run by the owner of a private hotel named ‘Imran Hotel’ and all the food served at his restaurant was carrion,” said Station House Officer (SHO) Amaanullah Sunbal. Police officials said that the hotel owner, Khursheed, was still at large and several teams were conducting raids to arrest him.

Sunbal told The Express Tribune that the police received an anonymous phone call. “We were told that there was some suspicious activity going on at the hotel. We believed the hotel owner was running a brothel so we raided the place but then someone told us to check the room in the basement,” he said. “There were carcasses of snakes and dogs there and we caught one man skinning the meat on the scene,” he added.

“The smell was overwhelming and we had to take the men outside to question them. There were dozens of animal carcasses and the meat was all carrion,” said investigation official Habib Jamshed.

Police officials arrested three people from the spot including Shafaqat, Manzoor and Riaz. According to investigation officer Jamshed, Riaz hails from Jaraan Waala and used to catch the animals and bring them to the hotel. “Manzoor and Shafqat used to skin the animals and prepare the meat. They told us that Khursheed paid each of them Rs2,000 to keep silent on the matter,” he added.

Riaz told the police that the accused had all been involved in the business of selling carrion for four years. “We were extremely well paid. All we had to do was hunt different animals from the roads and then we used to slice them. Most of the time we served road kill,” he added.

“We used to treat the meat with colour and salt and prepare it to sell and we served it as the costliest meat, deer or quail,” said Manzoor. “We delivered the meat throughout the province and we used to have a truck take it into Rahim Yar Khan, Faisalabad and Sargodha,” he said.

Shafaqat told reporters that in the last four years they had never received any complaints about the quality of the meat. “Yes it was rotten meat but people kept coming to the restaurant to eat it. They believed it was what we told them and they didn’t care if it was fresh,” he said. Police officials have lodged an FIR and have been conducting several raids at different locations to arrest Khursheed.

Residents of the area demanded that the men be stoned publicly but police officials have taken the accused into custody.

“They have been selling snake meat to people which is poisonous. There needs to be a trial of how many people died after eating this meat. These men should be hung publicly,” said a regular customer at Khursheed’s restaurant Batool. Police have also sent the carcasses of the animals into custody and sent them to the lab for analysis.

(Read: Meat matters - Feasting on dogs and donkeys)

Published in The Express Tribune, January 25^th, 2012.