Three men were this morning caught red-handedly slaughtering a sheep at an illegal abattoir in Swieqi valley.

Animal Welfare officials turned up at an old abandoned farm in a side road just off the valley, which they have been monitoring for days, and caught the men in action.

Initially, the Animal Welfare Department suspected the farm was being used for the illegal training of dogs but when they visited the site last Tuesday, they found buckets of blood on the floor and immediately suspected it was being used as an illegal slaughterhouse.

Officers, accompanied by the police, went on site at 7 a.m. today and caught three men red-handed slaughtering a sheep. They were arrested.

They also checked on a couple of men who went to buy the meat and these were held for questioning.

In one of the rooms, the officers also found the testicles of a horse. One of the three men caught slaughtering the sheep claimed he had a slaughtering license but the farm was not licenced as a slaughterhouse.

The officers also found tools used for slaughtering and animal tags, the authenticity of which has yet to be investigated.

Apart from dead animals, live animals were also found. These included an old donkey, three horses, a sheep and four goats.