6500 Kg beef seized and three held in Dharavi
This seizure is said to be the largest made in the city since the Maharashtra Animal Preservation (MAP) Act was amended last year.
Crime Branch officials said the tip-off was received by Unit III, according to which beef to be exported to Vietnam was being stored in Dharavi.
The police raid at a godown in Kuttu Wadi, Dharavi threw up dried organs of cows and bulls apart from the beef. Three persons present in the godown were placed under arrest.
Dhananjay Kulkarni, DCP (Detection) said that, “The accused had stored the beef with the intention of exporting it to Vietnam by sea under the guise of exporting buffalo meat. Some more people are suspected to have been involved, and we are making further inquiries into the source as well as the transport aspect of the racket.”
The arrested accused have been identified as Shamshad Qureshi, Ashraf Ali and Sartaj Qureshi and have been charged under the Maharashtra Animal Preservation (Amendment) Bill as well for killing or maiming cattle under the IPC. “The total weight of the beef seized in the raid is around 6.5 tons, which is worth Rs 14 lakh,” Mr Kulkarni added.
The slaughter of cows and bulls and the consumption and sale of their meat was banned in Maharashtra in March 2015, after President Pranab Mukherjee gave his assent to the Maharashtra Animal Preservation (Amendment) Bill close to 20 years after the Bill was passed in the Maharashtra Assembly when the Shiv Sena-BJP combine was in power in 1995.
