Six arrests have been made by Belgian police as a part of a fraud investigation involving horses and other animals. Officials say the motivation for fraud was financial but there is an elevated risk to animal welfare and public health.
The probe discovered that animals, primarily horses, are given a brand new id to allow them to be diverted into the meals chain, despatched to slaughter and their meat offered .
The officials mentioned the motivation for the fraud was monetary however there could also be a danger to public well-being and animal welfare.
Officials mentioned the motivation for the fraud was monetary however there could also be a danger to public well-being and animal welfare.
As a part of the investigation, police searched eight addresses in Antwerp and Namur. They found that new identities were given to animals, mainly horses so they could be diverted into the food chain, sent to slaughter, and their meat sold. During the raids, horse passports, health certificates, vehicles, cash, and a weapon were seized. Suspected four men between the ages of 26 and 55, a 55-year-old Belgian woman and a 29-year-old from Spain were detained for questioning.
Europol and the Spanish Guardia Civil are also involved in the investigation, which has been ongoing for “some time,” according to the Antwerp prosecutor’s office.
The search is focusing on several companies and their managers who are involved in the large-scale import and export of horses and other animals such as donkeys. The firms also act as wholesalers of live animals, agricultural products, and textile materials.
Earlier inspections by the Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain (FASFC) and Animal Welfare Inspectorate showed evidence of tampering with passports and microchips of animals plus violations in registrations. It was found that the suspects allegedly altered information relating to the sale and trade of exotic and protected animals listed by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Notably, the provenance of horses was altered to sell them for horse meat.
Previous editions of the annual Operation Opson, which is coordinated by Europol and Interpol, have included actions on horse passport documents and horse meat in countries like Belgium and Spain. Investigations led to meat and live animals being seized and the opening of court cases in several European countries.
In 2015 a similar case occurred and Willy Selten, a Dutchman who worked in the meat industry and appeared in the media at the time of the horse meat scandal, started his meat processing business in Belgium. He first set up in Mol, in the Antwerp Province, the Brabants Dagbald said on Thursday. Belgian and Dutch authorities were not aware, according to the paper. The Central European MP Esther de Lange afterwards called for tighter controls on the industry. The horse meat scandal started in 2013. The meat was sold as authentic beef, in what appeared to be large-scale labelling fraud. Around 50 million kilos of meat from Willy Selten’s factories had to be taken off the market. The producer’s trial will start on the 24th of March in the Dutch town of Oss.
In Belgium, 230 horse passports were reviewed by FASFC as part of Operation Opson in 2021 and 35 were falsified. Horse passports showing signs of forgery have been one of the main priorities in recent years and a working group was set up with more findings expected in future operations.