MANGALURU: Cattle theft and illegal transport detection squad constituted by Mangaluru City Police on October 5 made its first major publicised bust on Sunday. Based on a tip-off about cattle being illegally transported in a pick-up vehicle from Bantwal to the city, the squad with personnel of Kankanady Town police station intercepted the vehicle at Ujjodi near Mahavir (Pumpwell) circle and thwarted an attempt at illegal transportation of cattle.
Vikash Kumar Vikash, city police commissioner in a communiqué on Monday stated that the cattle traffickers abandoned the vehicle on spotting the police team and fled the scene. Police rescued six cows, a bull and five calves that were being transported in a cruel manner. A case has been registered in the jurisdictional Kankanady town police station and hunt is on for the traffickers. They will be nabbed at the earliest, Vikash Kumar said.
Police have handed over the rescued cattle to the gaushala at Pajeer on direction from the jurisdictional court. The squad consisting of personnel and officers from the city crime branch has been working since October 5 to stop instances of cattle theft, illegal cattle transportation and slaughter. City police have already set up 32 checkpoints at various entry points to the city to check for such incidents and tabs are being kept on known cattle traffickers.
While intensifying night rounds, Vikash Kumar said special rounds have also been initiated in the wee hours, a time when cattle traffickers prefer to make their move of transporting cattle illegally into the city.