Al-Masry Al-Youm’s caught large amounts of subsidized meat being smuggled from state cooperative stores in Cairo.
Workers say meat smuggling occurs frequently. The subsidized meat is passed to traders who sell it to butchers. The butchers than sell the meat to consumers at prices that reach LE52 a kilo.
Dozens of citizens lined up in front of an outlet in Manshiyet Nasser at 5PM last Monday waiting to buy subsidized meat. Al-Masry Al-Youm cameras detected a refrigerated truck carrying away some of the meat intended for sale at the outlet. Workers at the outlet said they could do nothing to stop the smuggling.
Ayman Hussein, a Duweiqa resident who was standing in line, said he has been coming to the outlet every day for the past week, but has yet to obtain any subsidized meat.
Hussein said the outlet is either too crowded and he is unable to reach the window, or he by the time he does he is told the outlet has run out of meat. Hussein’s salary is LE400 and he says he cannot afford to buy meat from a butcher, where prices can be up to LE55 per kilogram.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
