A human trafficker was caught on camera mocking exploited workers at his filth-ridden Perthshire puppy farm, saying their complaints “boiled his blood”.
Daanyaal Chowdhury claimed a “miscarriage of justice” after he was prosecuted for animal neglect over conditions at his dog security firm at Glenalmond, near Perth.
He believed his victims should have been charged along with him.
Police and SSPCA inspectors raided the site in October 2020 and rescued about 60 cats and dogs, many riddled with disease and infection.
Chowdhury was hit with a five-year animal ban and ordered to carry out 60 hours of unpaid work after a court heard conditions at the kennels were so bad they posed a public health risk.
This week, he pled guilty to human trafficking offences linked to the same business at South Cairnies Farm Cottage.
Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court heard how Chowdhury duped people into working at the site with promises of a £1,000 a month wage as well as food and accommodation.
But they were never given contracts, were overworked, underpaid and even had to eat the same food as the dogs.
In video taken by The Courier following a 2023 court hearing in Perth, Chowdhury gripes about having to deal with workers’ complaints as he puts on a mocking, whiny voice.
Mocking clip
The clip was shot outside the city court in April 2023 – before Chowdhury was charged with the human trafficking allegations.
In it, he says: “I’m not blaming the people in Perth or anything like that.
“I get that during Covid, not many people had jobs and stuff like that.
“But to come to a dog establishment then do your job correctly.
“You know: ‘Oh, the place was dirty?’ – you have applied for a cleaning role in a kennel.
“You are not saying in your statement that there wasn’t disinfectant… cleaning equipment. You are saying that the place was dirty.
“Then why are you and your five colleagues not cleaning the place?
“It boils my blood.”
Chowdhury said he had seen some of his victims at court but stayed away from them.
“When the police raided the place they saw them there, I was not present.
“Why were they not charged?”
Chowdhury, from Manchester, also told The Courier he felt he had been treated “like a drug dealer”.
He said: “I spent hundreds of thousands of pounds there but we had six members of staff who weren’t doing their jobs correctly.
“Unfortunately, the charges were only brought against me, on the day I wasn’t there.
“I feel that has been a miscarriage of justice because why were the people there not charged?”
Overworked and underpaid
Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court heard of one woman was recruited by Chowdhury after answering a job advert on Gumtree.
Prosecutor Douglas Thomson said: “Contrary to the advertised terms, (the woman) was required to work around 12 to 13 hours per day, due to the level of care required by the puppies and the cleaning work involved.”
The court heard that she was provided with out of date food and had to eat the same frozen chicken that was also fed to the dogs.
At the previous calling in Perth Sheriff Court, prosecutors showed a 10-minute video of conditions at the kennels.
The harrowing clip featured dogs “desperate to get out” and starving cats living in squalor.
The court heard how inspectors descended on the site after local vets raised the alarm about one of Chowdhury’s German Shepherds, Sophie, who came to them with skin disease.
Chowdhury, who has completed his 90 hour work order, will be sentenced for the human trafficking offences at a later date.
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