Europe's police crack massive horsemeat trafficking ring

Police from seven European countries detained 26 people in a crackdown on a horsemeat trafficking ring two years after a tainted meat scandal that rocked the continent, the EU's judicial agency Eurojust said yesterday.

Eurojust said in a statement that the swoop gathering hundreds of police and judicial officials "succeeded in stopping an organised criminal network involved in trade in illegal horsemeat."

The operation involved officers and the judiciary in France, Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Britain, the European Union agency said.

Eurojust did not say where the 26 suspects were arrested but the Dutch public prosecutor's office said three were arrested in the Netherlands. France had requested the trio's extradition, the prosecutors added.

Media in Belgium said four of its nationals, including the alleged ringleader, were arrested in France.

Eurojust said the main suspect in the ring, which is accused of introducing horsemeat unfit for human consumption.