In an intelligence-led operation, law enforcement officers from Makindu have dismantled a clandestine donkey slaughter syndicate that was moments away from feeding unsuspecting city dwellers “illegal steak”, arresting a couple that is behind the act in the process.
Acting on a tip-off that was as sharp as a butcher’s knife, the team of officers descended upon a group of unscrupulous merchants that had turned a secluded homestead into a makeshift abattoir, where donkeys were being butchered under the cover of darkness, destined for Kamboo area in Nairobi.
Responding swiftly, the multi-agency team comprising DCI detectives, Kenya Police Service Officers (KPS) and NGAO administrators descended upon the scene.
Deep in the thickets, the air thick with the smell of death, the officers caught the suspects red-handed, busy skinning the beasts of burden.
While some accomplices took to their heels, vanishing into the thorny bushes like smoke, the law caught up with a couple who are the masterminds: Grace Mutile, 47, and Bonface Mutunga, 52.
The duo was handcuffed on the spot, their “getaway” vehicle, a grey Isuzu D-Max Reg. No. KDJ 385Z impounded before it could ferry the illicit cargo to the city’s dinner tables.
At the scene, a total of twenty (20) donkeys had already been slaughtered, their carcasses strewn across the ground, a grim testament to a trade that prioritises profit over public health and animal welfare.
Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) experts have already combed through the site, bagging and tagging evidence with surgical precision.
As the two suspects cool their heels in the cells awaiting their day in court, the Sub-County Veterinary and Public Health Officers are on-site to ensure the contaminated meat doesn’t find its way into the food chain.
