Police seized nearly “13 tonnes of beef” from two trucks and arrested three persons in this connection, an official said.
The meat was being transported to Mumbai and a group of persons was escorting it in a four-wheeler. The police, acting on a tip-off, intercepted the vehicles on Monday at a check post in Bhiwandi taluka here, Padgha police station inspector Bhaskar Pukale said.
The police seized the meat and arrested one of the truck drivers and two cleaners. The other truck driver and occupants of the escorting vehicle managed to escape, he said.
The police said the meat was later sent for testing to a local laboratory which confirmed that it was beef.
The three arrested persons were booked under IPC sections 429 (mischief by killing or maiming cattle) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention), and relevant provisions of the Maharashtra Animal Preservation (Amendment) Act, 1995, the police official said.
They were later produced in a court which remanded them in police custody till tomorrow, he said.
The Maharashtra Animal Preservation (Amendment) Act bans the slaughter of bulls and bullocks, besides cows.
