Six people have been detained in southern China's Guangdong Province for allegedly running a network that processed and sold meat from dead and diseased pigs.

Some of the stinking meat seized by law enforcement officials at the scene had been soaked in an unidentified chemical with a strong smell similar to the pesticide DDT, New Express Daily reported.

Assisted by local police, officials from the Guangzhou Industry and Commerce Administration raided the illegal butcher shop in a small village on December 30. The village is about 100 kilometers away from Guangzhou, Guangdong's capital.

A total of 4,000 kilograms of meat, 6,000 pieces of pigskin and eight suspects were seized in the operation. It was the biggest illegal butcher shop found in Guangzhou in recent five years, the authority said.

The shop is believed to have been open for more than six months.

The shop reportedly paid between 50 yuan (US$7.3) and 200 yuan for each dead pig. The parts and organs were then sold to small restaurants, street vendors, canteens or even meat plants and could make a profit of up to 2,500 yuan a pig.

Most of the pigs had apparently died of foot and mouth, blue ear or ractopamine poisoning.

The shop bought the dead pigs from pig farms in the morning and processed them in the afternoon. The meat was then transported to a cool store in Guangzhou's Houjiao Village about 9pm and distributed to markets early the next day.

The shop could sell a ton of this meat every day, sometimes even 2.5 to 3 tons, an unidentified source said.

The shop was run by two brothers, identified as Wang. Both were among the six detained.

Their father once reported their dubious business to local authorities but the brothers escaped punishment because of a lack of evidence.

Later they pushed their father down to the ground from second floor. The old man was reportedly seriously injured.

Some restaurants in Guangzhou were reported to be buying the meat at 6 yuan a kilogram and cooking it with braising sauce, while meat plants used the meat for sausages.

(Shanghai Daily January 9, 2009)