Huge quantity of ‘beef’ seized from illegal factory in city, five UP residents nabbed

Acting on a tip-off by an NGO, “Gau Raksh Dal”, the Amritsar rural police along with officials of the Health Department have confiscated a huge quantity of ‘beef’ from an illegal factory located near Chabba village on the Tarn Taran road here on Saturday evening.

The police have arrested five persons from the spot while the prime accused, identified as Mohammad Imran, of Meerut along with several women fled the spot before the arrival of the police. Those arrested were identified as Naseem Ansari, alias Bittu Ansari, Saanu, Imran, Haseen Mohammad and Mohammad Imran. All the accused belong to Uttar Pradesh.

A case under Sections 3, 5 and 8 of the Punjab Prohibition of Cow Slaughter Act and Section 11 of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Sections 299, 153, 325, 111 (3), 190 and 191 (3) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita has been registered against them, said the police.

The police recovered 1650 kg of alleged cow meat along with 6,000 boxes and packing material with ‘halal meat’ written on it. The boxes also had the sticker, which showed “manufactured in Andhra Pradesh”.

Satish Kumar, a resident of Patiala, national president of the organization, along with a local leader got the tip-off about an illegal cow-slaughtering factory on the Tarn Taran road, which was involved in cow slaughtering in a illegal manner. He alleged the factory was being run by Mohammad Imran of Meerut who had a number of cases of similar nature registered against him in Jalandhar and other parts of the country.

He said he along with local leaders of the organization raided the factory and also informed the police about it. They found five persons on the spot who were detained and handed over to the police. The police found sharp-edged weapons used for slaughtering of cows.

Deputy Superintendent of Police, Attari, Lakhbir Singh said a case has been registered and raids were on to nab the absconders. He said further investigations are in progress.

Officials of the Health Department have taken samples of the meat to ascertain whether it was beef or some other meat. The boxes recovered from the spot have a note “buffalo meat” written on it.

Amritsar