Police in Ho Chi Minh City have arrested 12 men accused of belonging to a Vietnam cat-stealing ring that allegedly took nearly 2,700 pets during overnight raids and sent them for slaughter.
The suspects have been accused of property theft and told police they had stolen and trafficked about 2,700 cats of different types, according to a police statement. Criminal proceedings began on Sunday, although authorities did not say when the arrests were made.
Investigators seized 50 live cats, 55 traps, two weighing scales and two machines used to remove fur. The equipment was recovered after the network was identified in July.
Police said the men divided into small groups and travelled by motorbike to residential neighbourhoods, mainly operating between 11pm and 4am. Each team was estimated to have taken between four and 10 cats a night.
Eating dog and cat meat is legal in Vietnam, where restaurants openly advertise it, but sellers are required to hold certificates showing where the animals came from. Stolen cats can reportedly be sold to restaurants for at least 70,000 dong, or about $2.70, per kilogram.
The arrests follow other police operations against suspected cat-theft networks in Ho Chi Minh City. Earlier this year, 18 people were arrested in connection with two separate rings.
In June, officers rescued more than 400 cats during a major operation targeting a suspected cat-meat crime ring. At least 40 were later reunited with their owners, while animal welfare groups said several died after being found in harsh conditions.
Phuong Tham, country director of Humane World for Animals Viet Nam, said at the time: “It was quite an overwhelming sight to see so many cats seized from just a single transport in Vietnam’s illicit cat meat trade.”
She added: “The sad truth about this trade is that thousands of cats every month are being stolen, trafficked and slaughtered for meat across the country, and the fate of most is to end up at a slaughterhouse or restaurant to be killed and eaten.”
