Rajasthan: Cow smugglers fire at cops, attempt to run them over in Bharatpur

JAIPUR: Two armed cow smugglers opened fire at the quick response team (QRT) of the police and attempted to run them over in the early hours on Thursday at Sent village under Kumher police station area of Bharatpur.
However, the police returned fire, chased them and managed to arrest one smuggler, rescue 24 cows and sieze the caracasses of a cow and a bull from the vehicle.
According to police, a team comprising QRT personnel and other policemen started checking vehicles and barricaded roads after receiving information on cow smugglers going from Bharatpur to Haryana.
"The incident took place at 4am on Thursday. Our team asked the vehicle smuggling cows to stop. Suddenly, the cow smugglers opened fire and shot some four rounds with the police replying with 10 rounds of fire. We chased and managed to arrest one cow smuggler, identified as Mustaq (45), a native of Nooh Mewat in Haryana," said Bharatpur SP Shyam Singh to TOI.
One of the culprits managed to flee from the scene. They also attempted to run the police personnel over by speeding towards the cops.
When the container in the vehicle was checked, the cattle were found in a very bad condition. "We managed to rescue 24 bovines. We also recovered the bodies of one cow and a bull. A case under various sections of the IPC for firing at the police and under the Rajasthan Bovine Ordinance has been lodged against the smugglers. Efforts are on to arrest the second smuggler who managed to flee," he said.
'Smuggling of cows down this yr'
Police said the cow smugglers from Haryana came to Bharatpur regularly, especially Deeg and Kumher areas, to steal abandoned cows and bulls. "These animals are butchered in the Nooh Mewat area of Haryana. The number of cow smuggling cases are down this year as many police teams have been deployed for night patrolling in border areas of Bharatpur," Singh said.
Bharatpur district shares boundaries with Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.