MINGORA: Police here on Monday filed cases against shopkeepers after recovering hundreds of dead chickens during a raid at Mingora Bazaar.

Police said that they monitored the poultry market in Mingora Bazaar after getting informed about the business of dead chickens. “Following public complaints, we started monitoring poultry shops in Mingora and found several shopkeepers selling dead chickens to local hotels and restaurants,” said a police official.

He said that they seized all the dead chickens recovered from shops during the raid and filed cases against the shopkeepers. The residents of Mingora said they had noticed dead chickens in the shop for long t about which they complained to the district administration but nobody took timely action against the shopkeepers.

“We made several complaints about the sale of dead chickens near vegetable market but the no action was taken against the shopkeepers by the district administration,” said Iqbal Ali, a resident of Mingora.

The local people said that sale of dead chickens went on regularly as the shopkeepers got careful when police conduct raids but began sale of dead chickens after the raids.

“The district administration and police must monitor the poultry shops regularly so that sale of dead chickens is stopped completely,” said Abdul Khaliq, a resident of Amankot. He added that police and district administration should also conduct raids on shops located outside Mingora to stop the illegal business.

People said that legal action would be taken against the owners of restaurants and wedding halls who purchase dead chickens at nominal prices from the shopkeepers.

“Since customers do not bother to check chickens whether they are dead or alive, the owners of restaurant, hotels and wedding halls purchase dead chickens. They get a dead chicken at Rs40 to Rs50 and charge the customers highly,” said Amjad Ali, a resident of Mingora.

Published in Dawn, April 17th, 2018