French Couple Fined, Given Suspended Sentence for Illegal Halal Poultry Operation

Their arrest by the police dates back to last February, reports the newspaper La Dépêche, which specifies that the regional intervention group of Toulouse had opened an investigation a year earlier after a denunciation by a producer in the department. Touriya, 53, and her husband are accused of having sold at least 60,000 chickens to the halal market in Toulouse and Tarn-et-Garonne.

They had, the newspaper relates, set up a clandestine slaughterhouse on a farm located in Orgueil, south of Montauban, with the help of a slaughterer who gave the halal certification. The latter was not convicted of "undeclared work", which of course delighted his lawyer who had pleaded for acquittal.

According to the investigation, the turnover for this lucrative market is estimated at 670,000 euros, undeclared amounts neither to the tax authorities nor to the URSAFF (social security).