MIAMI, Jan. 13 (UPI) -- Florida officials say they have swept through an area of Miami-Dade County where illegal slaughterhouses were operating, handing out citations.
Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said officials targeted the ramshackle area west of Hialeah Gardens Tuesday because it is at the center of a suspected black market in horse meat, The Miami Herald reported.
Rundle told the newspaper teams of county investigators went through area, issuing more than 100 citations for everything from building code violations to illegal slaughtering operations, whose owners allegedly treat animals with brutality, illegally butcher them and dump hazardous wastes into the environment.
The Herald said civil and misdemeanor criminal notices were handed out and additional charges were possible, although there were no reported discoveries of horse meat.
The discovery of 21 animal carcasses in the so-called C-9 Basin brought attention to the "ranchos" that officials say constitute an underground animal slaughtering economy.
