DHAKA: Police recovered the bodies of 13 slaughtered horses and rescued one alive from an abandoned house in Anarpura village of Munshiganj’s Gazaria upazila on Wednesday (April 8).
According to police, locals had been noticing suspicious movement near the house, located close to Anarpura bus station, for around six months.
Villager Tofazzal Miaji said, “A group of us went to the house this morning [yesterday] to see what was going on…. Sensing our presence, those who were inside the house fled, leaving the horses’ bodies behind. We then informed the police.”
Police rushed to the spot and recovered the 13 bodies and rescued one horse alive. “We believe it [the living horse] was also kept to be slaughtered later,” said Md Hasan Ali, officer-in-charge of Gazaria Police Station.
Locals allege that a syndicate has been slaughtering horses to sell the meat as beef.
Police, however, could not confirm the allegation. “We still don’t know the exact reason behind the horse slaughtering. We are investigating it,” the OC told The Daily Star.
According to Livestock Department officials, slaughtering and selling horse meat is against the law and a punishable offence.
The incident comes amid growing concerns over the illegal slaughter and sale of horse meat in parts of the country.
On December 22, 2025, police detained nine people in Gazipur while they were slaughtering 10 horses at a secret facility, and a mobile court fined one of the accused and ordered the seized meat to be buried.
On June 10, 2024, authorities seized meat from 37 sick horses in Gazipur, allegedly being processed for sale as beef.
Earlier, in September 2019, a man was detained in Dinajpur for slaughtering a horse and selling the meat.
Animal welfare activists have repeatedly warned that such practices not only violate the law but also pose serious public health risks.
“Selling diseased or misrepresented meat as beef undermines public trust and endangers consumers,” Rubaiya Ahmad, founder of Obhoyaronno Animal Welfare Foundation, had earlier told The Daily Star. - The Daily Star/ANN
