Alex Trelinski
A NETWORK of unlicensed slaughterhouses has been busted by the Guardia Civil in the Avila, Madrid, and Toledo areas.
Meat from mistreated animals was supplied to 10 Asian restaurants in Madrid and Fuenlabrada- four of which have been closed down.
Products were either sold to diners inside premises or in home deliveries advertised via online platforms.
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The Guardia’s appropriately named ‘Operation Pox’ has resulted in five arrests.
Another 12 people are being investigated for various crimes against public health, animal abuse, document forgery, membership of a criminal group and money laundering.
Due to the dreadful state of some of the animals at various sites, around 350 have had to be put down.
Fake papers claimed to show animals had been slaughtered legally and had been well-looked after.
One slaughterhouse in the east of Madrid at San Fernando de Henares had an enclosure of over 200 goats and sheep- some of whom had died alongside severed animal heads and rats.
The head of the Guardia’s Seprona environmental unit, Jose Carlos Martinez, said: “It is always amazing to see these kind of clandestine operations that keep animals in very bad conditions.
“There animals were close to death, living next to piled-up bodies.”
“Those who were alive had rashes on their bodies, which were symptoms of sheep or goat pox, along with signs of malnutrition,” he added.
It has also been found that several of those investigated regularly collected meat in clandestine slaughterhouses to distribute it among businesses in different areas of the Madrid region, without any type of control or traceability.
The Guardia Civil discovered an organised criminal structure among the gang, with each member having a specific role.
