Police arrest 34 villagers caught exhuming contraband chicken

34 persons from neighbouring villages within the Kaduna metropolis were at the weekend arrested by the police for exhuming over 6000 cartons of contraband frozen chicken and other related poultry products worth over N35 million.
According to the police, the arrested persons who came from Mando and Buruku villages exhumed the chicken barely 48 hours after Nigeria Customs, Federal Operations Unit (FOU), Zone B had destroyed, burnt and buried the contraband poultry products.
The Police Public Relations Officers (PPRO) in the state, DSP Zubairu Abubakar, said the suspects were arrested following a tip off that some persons from the neighbouring villages were exhuming contraband chicken condemned by the Customs. He said,

“These are the suspects we have arrested in connection with exhuming of frozen chickens buried by the operatives of the Nigeria Customs. The chickens were buried at the state government approved dump site along Buruku/Kaduna road in conjunction with KEPA
“We got information that people were exhuming the contraband chickens that were buried by the Customs, and we rushed there and arrested about 34 suspects, they are with us.”As you are all aware, we carried out the destruction of contraband frozen chicken last Thursday at a dump site provided by KEPAUnfortunately we got the information that some unscrupulous Nigerians went there to exhume them and evacuated some of the chickens to the market.These chickens are not good for human consumption because they contain some toxic chemicals.
“They have taken them to the town, but we are lucky that officers and men of the police were handy to arrest these suspects. So we are calling on the public to beware of these products because they are not fit for human consumption”.

He added that those caught in the act had already been charged for consumption and sales of adulterated food and drinks.”

SUN