Task force arrests 10 butchers, seize 2 cattle in clampdown on illegal abattoirs

An enforcement team of Lagos state agriculture ministry has dislodged an illegal slaughterhouse, arresting 10 butchers and seizing two live cattle in Oke Rube area of Alimosho council area.

An enforcement team of Lagos state agriculture ministry has dislodged an illegal slaughterhouse, arresting 10 butchers and seizing two live cattle in Oke Rube area of Alimosho council area.

A re-inaugurated team for monitoring, enforcement and compliance of the state’s agriculture ministry has been tasked with dislodging illegal slaughterhouses.

The seized carcass was donated to Juvenile Remand Home at Oregun after a veterinary team inspected it for safety, said acting agriculture commissioner Abisola Olusanya.

The live cattle would be deposited at Oko-Oba abattoir in Agege.

Owners can claim them in 48 hours, failing which the cattle would be donated to charity, said Olusanya.

The arrested butchers face prosecution before a mobile court.

The state is clamping down on transport and sale of meat.

Only the Eko Refrigerated Meat Vans and Eko Live Animals Transport are the permitted means of transporting meat.

The enforcement team is also tasked to confiscate stray animals, citing concerns they could easily spread zoonotic diseases that pose environmental and safety threats.

Olusanya said the illegal abattoirs were constituting hazard to the businesses of legal operators who are doing everything possible to ensure that only healthy and wholesome meat is produced for the populace.