Police bust illegal cattle slaughter

by Jayamapthy JAYASINGHE

When Central Anti Vice Striking Force (CAVSF) officers walked stealthily into the abattoir at Samagi Mawatha at Mahabage Welisara, last week they were astonished to find several carcases of buffaloes and cows lying on the floor. Around 35 buffaloes and cows had been slaughtered that night.

The slaughter had commenced a little after midnight. The Samagi Mawatha abattoir was the largest in the country where over 100 head of cattle including buffaloes is slaughtered daily. This had gone unchecked for several years, police said.

Following a tip off the OIC Central Anti Vice Striking Force (CAVSF) Inspector Duminda Balasooriya and his team decided to raid the abattoir to ascertain what went on behind its closed doors.

Although the abattoir was licensed, slaughtering was done sans the supervision of a veterinary surgeon and a Public Health Inspector (PHI). There were numerous complaints from the public that buffalo meat was being sold as beef. Police also learnt the modus operandi adopted by the butchers with regard to the disposal of meat. The carcases of buffalo and cows along with its flesh were transported to Colombo and the suburban beef stalls before the crack of dawn.

Fake permits

Meanwhile, police had got wind that the businessman who owned the licensed abattoir had violated the provisions of the Butchers Ordinance. They learnt that hundreds of buffaloes and cattle were transported on the sly from distant places in the North Central and the Eastern Provinces. The cattle were transported in a lorry armed with fake permits to hoodwink policemen at checkpoints.

According to the police the operation had been masterminded by underworld gangs from the outstations. The increase in demand for beef had made it a profitable business.

Police told the Sunday Observer that the time to slaughter cattle is specified under the Butchers Ordinance from 6 a.m to 6 p.m. The cattle, also has to be certified by a veterinary surgeon and a Public Health Inspector that they are fit for human consumption. Diseased cattle, however, are prohibited from slaughter. Despite the stringent regulations, the slaughter of cattle at the Samagi Mawatha abattoir was done on a daily basis from midnight till dawn.

The most horrifying thing the police learnt was that the cattle were slaughtered without being inspected and certified by a veterinary surgeon and a Public Health Inspector. "Even diseased cattle would have been slaughtered," police said. When police pounced on the abattoir around 4 a.m. on Monday they found the carcass of a buffaloe and seven other carcasses of cows strewn on the floor.

By this time the butchers had already loaded the meat into a lorry parked outside the abattoir to be despatched to beef stalls in Colombo. The meat had been already stamped with a bogus seal and the false signature of a Public Health Inspector to indicate that the consignment had been inspected.

The 1,105 kilogrammes of meat worth over Rs 500,000 was recovered from the lorry. Police also recovered false documents and bogus seals of Public Heath Inspectors. The police also seized 41 head of cattle including buffaloes and a cow worth over Rs 11 lakhs brought to the slaughter house from remote areas.

Eight cattle had been slaughtered that particular morning.

Butcher remanded

Police recorded the statement of the Public Health Inspector (PHI) who vehemently denied any knowledge of authorising the slaughter. He also issued a report that the cattle meat was not fit for human consumption.

Police thereafter questioned the proprietor and learnt that the cattle had been brought from distant areas such as Embilipitiya and Wellawaya in a lorry. The cattle were in a dehydrated state as they had not been fed or given water while being transported from Embilipitiya and Wellayawa. Police took the proprietor and two other butchers into custody along with two lorry drivers and produced them before the Wattala Magistrate Rasantha Elgodawela. The lorry driver who was to transport the beef to Colombo that day pleaded guilty and the Magistrate fixed ingsentence for August 9. 2010. The proprietor and the two butchers along with the driver who transported the cattle from Embilipitiya and Wellawaya were remanded till August 12, 2010 until investigations are completed. The Magistrate ordered the 1105 kilogrammes of beef to be sent to the Dehiwela Zoo.

Two years ago the Central Anti Vice Striking Force (CAVSF) also raided an illegal buffalo slaughter house at Payagala and found the carcases of two buffaloes, eight live buffaloes and two cows and a calf.The abattoir had functioned surreptitiously for several years. Around 145 kilogrammes of meet were seized by the police.

Stolen buffaloes and stray cattle brought from distant places were slaughtered during night hours. The meat was thereafter supplied to beef stalls in Aluthgama, Beruwela and Kalutara the following day.

Around 10 buffaloes and a few head of cattle were slaughtered daily at the abattoir, police said. Following the raid police took into custody a suspect who was handed over to the Payagala police to be produced in court.