Baguio City: Authorities here arrested six men on Sunday as they enforced a strict new law against the sale of dog meat.

Agents of the police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-Cordillera, the National Meat Inspection Service-Cordillera and the London-based Animal Kingdom Foundation (AKF) made the arrests at a public market where a ban on the sale of dog meat was being flouted with impunity.

Those arrested include four retailers at the Baguio public market, besides a wholesaler and her driver from the town of Rosario.

Baguio City has long been considered a haven for dog meat-eaters.

Officials said they had decided to implement the new law in Baguio on a test basis "to challenge the political will of city officials because, until now, the dog meat trade is still very much rampant inside the city public market."

- With inputs from Gilbert Felongco