Police arrested four members of a dog smuggling racket after intercepting a vehicle at Ambassa in north Tripura on Monday. They found eight dogs concealed in the vehicle’s luggage space.
The detainees, aged between 19 and 25, are believed to have been transporting the dogs to a location close to Mizoram. They were arrested under provisions of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.
“They have confessed to being in the dog smuggling racket for over a year,” a police officer told The Hindu by phone on Tuesday from Ambassa. He said dog meat was common in Mizoram, as in Nagaland. There had been a few such detentions and recoveries in Tripura recently, he said.
Lucrative business
Police officials said sale of dogs to agents from Mizoram and Nagaland had become a lucrative business in Tripura over past two years. This was because of insufficient supply in these north-eastern States where dog meat is a delicacy.
Street dogs have almost disappeared from places close to the boundary with Mizoram and many other interior locations of the State. “Racketeers have even started breeding dogs like poultry in some remote places. They are doing it in the guise of domestication centres,” an official said.
Sources said a dog fetches up to ₹3000 in the market, thus attracting many to join the business.
NGOs working on prevention of cruelty to animals have started pushing the police and law enforcers to put an end to rampant dog smuggling from Tripura.
