Police in Vietnam have seized two men accused of snatching and butchering hundreds of pet dogs stolen for the illegal meat trade.

Officers approached the men as they loitered outside a home in Binh Chanh District in Ho Chi Minh City early on 12th February after finding their behaviour suspicious.

But as the officers tried to stop the pair, one legged it inside the property and bolted the door, while the other tried to fight them off.

The officers managed to restrain the man – named in reports as 43-year-old Nguyen Hoang Trieu from Phu Yen Province

They seized cans of tear gas, bags of chilli powder, and taser stun guns from him.

They then ordered the other man – identified as local resident Nguyen Duy Khanh, 43 – to unlock the door.

Inside the home, the officers were sickened to find hundreds of dead dogs in the process of being butchered.

Gruesome snaps show dozens of carcasses lined up on the floor.

They seized the dead dogs, as well as slaughtering tools and more tasers, from the property.

Investigators believe the two men belong to a criminal gang that steals pet dogs and trades them illegally for their meat.

Vietnam is believed to be the country that consumes the most dogs per year after China.

The Asia Canine Protection Alliance estimates that a whopping five million dogs are slaughtered for human consumption in Vietnam – population 99 million – every year.

Around 100 people are believed to die in the country annually from rabies.