Chennai, November 18: Nearly 2,100 kilogram of frozen meat was seized by the Railway Police Force (RPF) in Tamil Nadu's Chennai Egmore station. The meat, packed into 20 thermocol iced boxed, was offloaded from the Mannargudi-Bhagat Ki Kothi Weekly Express on platform no. 5 at 10:30am on Saturday.

Since an extremely foul smell was being emanated from the boxes, the RPF officials asked two men carrying them to reveal what is inside. On being approached by the security personnel, the duo dropped the parcel and escaped from the site. Stop Eating Dog Meat! Vietnam’s Capital City Hanoi Tells Its Resident.

When the boxed were opened up by the RPF, they found meat of a small animal stuffed inside. Officials of the Food Safety Department were called at the site to inspect the meat.

On inspection, the meat was found to be of slaughtered dogs. For further analysis, it was sent to the Meat Sciences Department at the Madras Veterinary College in Vepery, Chennai.

Apart from the meat being of dog, the Food Safety officials said the matter of grave concern is the manner in which it was being transported. The meat was not adequately refrigerated and appeared to be 48-72 hours old -- which could had been hazardous for anyone consuming it.

While the RPF did not register a case as no claimant of the parcel was found, the Chennai police has filed an FIR to trace from where the meat was loaded. According to some reports, the meat could had been loaded at Gandhidham in Gujarat. The official confirmation, however, is awaited.

Notably, the Mannargudi-Bhagat Ki Kothi Weekly Express plies once in a week from Bhagat ki Kothi in Rajasthan to Mannargudi in Tamil Nadu, and vice versa.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 18, 2018 03:15 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).