Restaurant owner steals dogs by killing them with toxic darts to prepare 'dog dishes'

A Chinese restaurant owner ended up being caught after allegedly stealing eight dogs in the space of two hours to use them as an ingredient for his eatery.

The suspect, known by his surname Chen, killed the dogs by shooting toxic darts at them, a Daily Mail report quoted police in eastern China’s Jiangsu Province as saying that.

He resorted to stealing the pooches because dog meat was expensive in winter – the peak season for people to eat dog dishes.

Chen was spotted riding a moped around Fenghuang, a town in Zhangjiagang city, on the morning of December 15.

Local residents alerted police after seeing the man firing what seemed like poisonous arrows at dogs.

Footage released by Jiangsu TV shows the man putting one dog which was struggling on the ground into a sack on his moped.

Chen had ridden his vehicle to the town from nearby Changshu city, where he lives temporarily, according to Zhangjiagang police.

He wanted to sell dog hot pot, a winter delicacy in some parts of China, after seeing diners flocking to other restaurants for the dish. However, he found out that the price for dog meat was ‘quite high’ so he decided to steal dogs.

Chen bought a bow and a number of poisonous arrows on the internet. He was caught by police at the scene and detained on suspicion of theft.