Three men arrested over horsemeat allegations
Three men have been arrested on suspicion of offences under the Fraud Act relating to allegations over the mislabelling of horsemeat.
A 63-year-old man was arrested at Peter Boddy Licensed Slaughterhouse, in Todmorden, West Yorkshire, while two other men, aged 64 and 42, were detained at Farmbox Meats, near Aberystwyth, Ceredigion.
It is understood that the arrested men are Dafydd Raw-Rees and Colin Patterson, of Farmbox Meats, and slaughterhouse owner Peter Boddy.
All three men were taken to Aberystwyth on Thursday evening (14 February) for questioning by Dyfed-Powys police and staff from the Food Standards Agency.
Reports suggest the Peter Boddy Licensed Slaughterhouse in West Yorkshire supplied horse carcasses to the Aberystwyth plant, which were then allegedly sold on as beef for kebabs and burgers. Both firms involved have denied the allegations and any wrongdoing.
Farmbox Meats owner Mr Raw-Rees said he was fully licensed to process horsemeat at his plant and that horse carcasses were imported from Ireland to be processed and packed before shipping on to Belgium.
But the FSA has now suspended operations at the firms after paperwork, customer lists and meat products were seized in raids last Tuesday.
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