The Railway Protection Force (RPF) Saturday intercepted a group of men unloading parcels of what suspected to be dog meat onto the platform, after police officials smelt the stink emanating from 11 polystyrene boxes at Chennai Egmore railway station, the Times of India reported.
According to the report, at the railway station, two tonnes of alleged dog meat was being transferred.
The parcel van arrived at the platform at 10:16 am when a few men who claimed to be receivers loaded the crates onto a trolley, according to the report.
The Hindu reported RPF Sub-Inspectors S. Krishnan and A. Baskaran grew suspicious of the content of the boxes and asked the men to open them. When officials from the Food and Drug Administration and Health department reached the spot, the people left the goods and escaped.
It was further reported that when the officials checked the boxes they were shocked to find undressed meat without any mandatory seal on it. Food safety officials told TOI that the meat might have been brought to Chennai so that it could be sold as ‘Rajasthan meat’ at a lower price.
The railway officials had received a tip-off regarding the arrival of parcels with meat inside them. “We inspected them and found the meat was not transported at the specified freezing temperature. No cold chain was maintained…” said Kathiravan to The Hindu.
Another official informed that they suspect the meat to be that of dog since the carcass had long tails and might have been seized to supply to city hotels. It was found that the parcels were initially booked by someone at Gandhidham in Gujarat. They were dispatched via Jodhpur-Mannargudi Express three days ago.
The carcasses weighed around 1,100 kg. This is not the first time that an incident like this has taken place. Last month, parcel vans containing fish meat were intercepted by railway officials. The current meat samples have been sent to Madras Veterinary College for tests for identification of the animal.
