LAHORE, Dec 1: In a two-hour long operation at Kot Kamboh locality (near old slaughterhouses), a team of the Allama Iqbal Town Municipal Administration on Saturday confiscated a huge quantity of dead animals meat weighing over 1,300kg besides arresting five people allegedly involved in supplying the meat to various parts of the city.

A team led by Town Administrator Nadia Saqib and comprising among others the town municipal officer, the town officer (regulations) and a veterinary doctor also sealed six storehouses where slaughtering of dead animals was being carried out.

Officials told Dawn that the butchers had been continuing illegal slaughtering and transportation of dead and alive animals since shifting of the slaughterhouses from Kot Kamboh (near Babu Sabu Interchange) to an automated abattoir that was established by the Punjab government at Shahpur Kanjran a couple of months ago.

“We were actually after those who actually wanted to disrupt the ongoing operation of the PAMCO-owned state-of-the-art abattoir at Shahpur through various tactics like unlawfully slaughtering animals. We even planted our own officials to monitor them,” Iqbal Town Administration/AC Raiwind Ms Nadia Saqib told Dawn.

She said as the town administration was observing the arrival of fewer animals at the new abattoir for slaughtering and supply of meat to the citizens, the officials reached up to the facts about involvement of various people in the illegal slaughtering and dead/alive animal meat business in the city.

“We raided six storehouses (two and 10 marlas) and confiscated a huge quantity of meat. Our doctor confirmed that the meat was of dead animals,” she said.

She said the meat was later dispatched to a store in a truck for examination through laboratory. She said the arrested people were being investigated.

“We have also got cases registered. The TMO and the TO (regulations) have been advised to keep Kot Kamboh and the adjacent localities under strict observation till elimination of the business,” she said.

She said the CDGL had devised an action plan to capture those involved in such a heinous business and also informed the TMAs about the plan.

Kot Kamboh is the area where two abattoirs had been functioning for the last many years. The government a couple of years ago had decided to establish an automated abbatoir at Shahpur for which Iran also provided a financial assistance. A number of butchers refused to move their business at the new place, declaring the automated slaughtering un-Islamic. Though they launched protests, the government rejected their pleas and closed the old abattoirs.

MASKS: Commissioner Jawad Rafiq Malik distributed thousands of masks among citizens facing dust problems due to construction of MBS project on Ferozepur and other city roads.

Accompanied by various local MPAs, he distributed masks among motorcyclists, students, senior citizens and women. He told the media that more than 500,000 masks would be distributed in the coming week.