Civic-minded people tip off police :

Illicit abattoir raided

By Jayampathy JAYASINGHE

Several civic-minded persons have petitioned the police headquarters in Colombo regarding an illicit cattle slaughter house at Marawila where hundreds of water buffaloes from the North Western Province (NCP) and the Eastern Province were brought for slaughter.

A slaughtered buffalo and cow meat in a lorry

Residents of Marawila allege that influential businessmen in the area were linked to the racket. They also allege that several Provincial Council officials had been bribed for them to continue the illicit business, police sources told the Sunday Observer.

Residents were furious that buffaloes were being slaughtered there. It was an illegal practice as the buffalo was a protected animal under the law. The residents were aware that the local police station about five kilometres away from the place had turned a blind eye to it.

The police had failed to take action against the perpetrators of the crime. However, IGP Mahinda Balasooriya having studied the pros and cons of the matter, instructed the Director of the Central Anti Vice Striking Force (CAVSF) Superintendent of Police, P.S. Karunanayake to take action and submit a report on the matter. OIC Central Anti Vice Striking Force (CAVSF) Inspector Duminda Balasooriya was assigned the task of investigating the matter.

Accordingly, two policemen from the CAVSF in civvies were despatched last Tuesday to Marawila on a surveillance mission to report on the illicit slaughter.

Surveillance mission

The policemen on arrival found that the slaughtering of buffaloes was being carried out after midnight. They promptly informed Inspector Balasooriya that scores of water buffaloes, cows and calves were being slaughtered that night. Following the revelation two police teams consisting of 22 policemen led by two Sub Inspectors left the Panadura Walana station around 1 am on September 2 and reached Mudukatuwa, Marawila around 4 am the following day.

There were two cattle slaughter houses in a coconut estate at Mudukatuwa spanning an area of over 15 acres. When the police party was about to enter the slaughter house, a lorry driven at a high speed was heading towards Colombo. However, the lorry was intercepted at a road block close by. When the policemen searched the lorry they found the flesh of eight slaughtered cattle strewn in the lorry.

The flesh was stamped with a forged seal of the Nattandiya Pradeshiya Sabha, a ruse adopted by most butchers to hoodwink security personnel manning checkpoints, police said.

The consignment of beef weighed 900 kilogrammes. The police learnt that the illicit beef was being transported to beef stalls in the Dematagoda area. Following the detection the driver of the lorry was taken in for questioning.

Thereafter, the police entered the abattior and saw three men slaughtering a buffalo. A dusk to dawn operation where they had slaughtered eight buffaloes and a cow that night. When the policemen visited the adjacent building they found 47 buffaloes and 32 head of cattle tethered to poles.

The cattle were to be slaughtered that morning. The buffaloes and the cattle which had not been fed for nearly two or three days, were on the brink of starvation. "There were 60 calves including a new born among the 39 cows," police said.

Cattle slaughter

The law states that the slaughter of cattle is permitted only between 6 am and 6 pm. Likewise, the slaughter of buffaloes and cattle less than 12 years old is totally prohibited under the law. It is mandatory under the provisions of the law that a veterinary surgeon has to examine and certify the cattle earmarked for slaughter.

Buffaloes and cows tethered in a building adjoining the abattoir

It is also necessary that the cattle is displayed for over 24 hours prior to slaughter. Slaughtering has to be carried out in the presence of a Public Health Inspector (PHI) of the area. "None of the provisions in the Butchers Ordinance had been complied with and the slaughtering was carried out in the most inhuman way," police said. The three suspects who were at the abattoir were arrested. They had used a fake seal to stamp the meat.

Meanwhile, six persons who arrived in a luxury vehicle were also questioned. The men had come from Anuradhapura to collect money from the butchers for supplying cattle to them. Thereafter, police summoned the Public Health Inspector (PHI) of the area and recorded his statement.

The PHI in his statement said that he was not consulted by the butchers on any day although he was aware of the illegal abattoir. He also certified that the seal used by the butchers was fake.

The value of the cattle at the abattoir was estimated to be around Rs. 15 lakhs and the 900 kilogrammes of flesh found in the lorry was valued at around Rs. 4 lakhs.

The 79 head of cattle seized by the police was produced before the Marawila Magistrate's court along with the 10 suspects. The Magistrate granted bail to the suspects and ordered them to appear before court on September 20, 2010.

The magistrate made an order that the cattle be sent to the government veterinary farm at Kochikatuwa and the 900 kilogrammes of flesh be sent to the Zoological Gardens at Dehiwela. Two months ago, the Central Anti Vice Striking Force (CAVSF) raided an illegal cattle slaughter house at Samagi Mawatha, Mahabage, Welisara and found that 35 buffaloes and cows had been slaughtered the previous night.

The illegal abattoir was the largest of its kind in the country where over 100 buffaloes are slaughtered daily. These buffaloes had been transported from distant places in the North Central and the Eastern provinces in lorries with fake permits.

Over 1,105 killogrammes of meat worth over Rs. 500,000 were found at the slaughter house. Police also seized 41 head of cattle including buffaloes and a cow worth over Rs. 11 lakhs at the slaughter house.

Two years ago, the Central Anti Vice Striking Force (CAVSF) also raided an illegal buffalo slaughter house at Payagala and seized the carcases of two buffaloes, eight live buffaloes, two cows and a calf.