Dutch meat trader linked to ‘Horsegate’ arrested in Spain

Spanish police have arrested a Dutch meat trader, at the request of the French authorities, over his alleged role in the 2013 horsemeat scandal.

The Guardia Civil said in a statement (in Spanish) that the man – identified only by his initials J.M.M.C.F. has already been sentenced in France and has now been “detained at the request of French authorities for his involvement in the biggest food scam in Europe, known as Horsegate.” He was arrested in the Alicante town of Calp last week.

The 2013 horsemeat scandal started in the UK after horse DNA was discovered in a number of food products labelled as being 100 per cent pure beef, undermining the integrity of the meat supply chain. Subsequent investigations revealed a network of fraudsters operating across 13 European countries.

In 2017, the same man was implicated in another incident in Spain involving the sale of horsemeat unfit for human consumption, according to the notice.