Tripura police nab dog traffickers

Agartala, April 6 (IANS) Tripura Police have arrested three people, including a woman, for trafficking dogs to other northeastern states, police said here Friday.

"Police arrested the three people with six grownup dogs tied inside jute sacks at Gandacharra in northern Tripura late Thursday evening," sub-divisional police officer Siddhartha Sinha told reporters.

He said the trio was arrested under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, and presented them in a local court, which granted them bail asking them not to leave the state without prior permission of the police.

The police official said that during interrogation the detainees informed that the dogs were to be smuggled to neighbouring Mizoram and Nagaland.

"According to the dog lifters, each grownup dog fetches between Rs.4,000 and Rs.6,000 in Mizoram and Nagaland as dog's meat is a favourite food there. They also informed that they have been involved in this work for the past few months," Sinha said.