LONDON: British police investigating a scandal that saw horsemeat enter the human food chain across Europe said yesterday they had arrested two men on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud.
City of London Police, who launched their inquiry in May, said they had arrested two men but did not disclose the fact until now due to “operational reasons”.
The force, which takes the national policing lead on fraud, said the men were arrested in Britain in the initial stages of the inquiry but did not give their nationalities. The pair have been bailed.
“Additionally, a number of search warrants were executed at business and home addresses throughout the UK,” it said in a statement.
The scandal started in January, when beefburgers sold in several British and Irish supermarket chains were found to contain horsemeat, before spreading to more than a dozen other countries.
Since the horsemeat scandal erupted, governments have scrambled to figure out how and where the mislabelling of meat happened in the sprawling chain of production spanning abattoirs and meat suppliers across Europe.
AFP
