Dead dogs discovered in van

Two brothers have been charged after police caught them fleeing from a drunk driving checkpoint with more than 20 dead dogs in the back of their van, Songjiang district prosecutors said Sunday.

The suspects, surnamed Ma, were both charged with producing and selling toxic food after an investigation uncovered that they had been selling dog meat out of their food stall, according to a press release from the Songjiang District People's Prosecutor's Office.

The prosecutor's office said there was enough cyanide residue in the stomach of one of the dead dogs to kill a grown man.

Traffic police chased down and arrested the brothers after they blew through a random drunk driving checkpoint around 8 pm on November 5. It turned out that the brother who was driving wasn't carrying his driver's license.

Officers discovered the dead dogs after searching the van, which police subsequently seized.

The Ma brothers ran a food stall in Yexie town in Songjiang district, where they sold lamb, beef and occasionally dog.

Although it is illegal to serve dog meat in Shanghai, it has remained a sought-after dish in some quarters of the city. Traditionally, Chinese from certain areas of the country believe that eating dog bolsters one's constitution, especially during the winter.

At the brothers' stall, police found about 10 more dead dogs, prosecutors said. On the day before the arrest, the brothers had bought about 30 dead dogs for 10 yuan ($1.65) per kilogram. They were delivering the animals when they ran into the police checkpoint.

The Ma brothers have a history of dealing in dead dogs. In December 2012, the local commerce authority punished them for selling dog meat. One of the brothers told the police that they had bought about 10 dead dogs in October 2012, which they sold to local residents and restaurants.