Police in western Mozambique's Tete city say they have detained a man who was caught slaughtering a dog, apparently to sell it as goat meat in a local market.

The head of the community police in the Samora Machel neighbourhood, Luciano Gracio, said he had been instructed by his boss to send officers to investigate after a tip-off from neighbours about the man skinning the dog.

“I sent five men to find out. They went there and found the man in action. They arrested him and brought him here to the local police post," he said.

The suspect denied the meat was for sale.

“I don’t sell in the market. I killed the animal for me to eat. It wasn’t to be sold in the market or to give my wife to cook. I wanted to cook it myself and eat alone. I learnt this with Chinese people,” he said.

In recent years, Tete province has found itself in the news for the wrong reasons - including reports of cannibalism, the decapitation of bodies of people with albinism, and the deaths of 70 people who drank contaminated beer at a funeral.