Source: Reuters

Spanish police have arrested a Dutch meat trader sentenced in France for his role in a 2013 scam that passed off cheap horse meat as pricier beef to various ready-made meals and burger producers across Europe.

In a statement, police said the man it identified only by his initials “J.M.M.C.F.” had been sentenced in France and was now “detained at the request of French authorities for his involvement in the biggest food scam in Europe, known as Horsegate”.

In 2017, the same man was involved in another alleged fraud in Spain and faces accusations of selling horse meat inappropriate for human consumption, police added.

Various traders and middlemen, including two Dutchmen, were sentenced in France in April for defrauding customers and consumers under the scheme, which affected over a dozen European countries, and an estimated 4.5 million ready meals.