Assam: Police seize 40 cattle heads in Sonitpur

Police have recovered and seized 40 cattle heads from five vehicles in the Behali area of Assam’s Sonitpur district, Police said on July 5.

The cow smuggling rackets crammed the cattle heads inside the oil tanker. The cattles were in a pathetic condition with no place to move and survived at a very low oxygen level inside the tanker. Police said that the smuggler’s racket put the cattle inside the tanker by bolting open the rear end of the iron tanker.

According to the Police, based on a tip-off, a team from Behali police station set up naka checking at the Buroighat area near Behali of Biswanath and intercepted a vehicle. “During the search, we found that the vehicle was carrying some cattle heads. In the meantime, we stopped four more vehicles and checked. We have recovered 32 cattle heads in all five vehicles which were coming from the Dhemaji side towards Nagaon,” B Bey, a police officer of the Behali police station said.

“We have apprehended eight persons in connection with this and our investigation is on,” the Police Officer further said.

According to Police, the team of Guwahati East police district on July 3 received information that one oil tanker was carrying cattle illegally from the Dhemaji side to Byrnihat, Meghalaya.

“Accordingly, the truck was intercepted on National Highway 37 at Sonapur, fly over and recovered 25 numbers of live cattle (Cow) and 11 numbers of dead cattle were from the truck. Police also apprehended the truck driver namely Guljar Hussain and Aijul Ali. They were carrying the cattle without any valid documents. Necessary formalities are being done,” Diganta Borah, Commissioner of Police, Guwahati said.

In April this year, two cattle smugglers were apprehended and eight cattle heads were recovered in Assam’s Goalpara district early on July 2, Police said. According to Police, the Village Defence Party caught two persons along with eight cattle heads at Uttar Baguan in the Matia police station area of Goalpara district and informed them.

In March this year, Police seized 44 cattle heads from two trucks in the Jorabat area, outskirts of Guwahati. Police also arrested the drivers of two trucks. Based on the information, a team from the Jorabat police outpost launched an operation during which it intercepted two trucks in the Jorabat area and seized 44 cattle heads from the vehicles.

Earlier on February 11 , Nagaon police intercepted one vehicle bearing Registration number NL01 AC6963 loaded with 24 cattle heads (2 found dead) being illegally transported from Golaghat district towards the Jorabat side in Assam Meghalaya border.

It should be mentioned that there are a significant drop in cow smuggling in Assam after continuous offensives by the Police. In the middle Assam district of Nagaon, Police successfully recovered and seized a total of 438 cattle heads which were being illegally transported outside the State in April and May 2023.

In this connection, 55 cattle smugglers/ cattle thieves were arrested and forwarded to judicial custody and a total number of 36 vehicles used in the crime were seized. The Assam police so far have arrested 1800 cattle smugglers while rescuing more than 15000 cattle and seized 817 vehicles used in cow smuggling. On 22nd June cow thieves gang hit and killed an elderly couple by car in Nagaon district. 60-year-old farmer Bhadreswar Nath died on the spot and his body was found under the crashed vehicle. His wife 55 years old Seema Devi was severely injured and later died in the hospital. Cow thieves Nazir and Khairul were apprehended by villagers and handed over to Police.

Earlier on April 19, 2022, Assam Police rescued 35 cattle and apprehended five persons on the charges of animal cruelty in Assam’s Biswanath district.

Based on secret information, a team of Biswanath police station intercepted a truck bearing Assam’s registration from the Biswanath area.

“During the checking, the police team rescued 35 cattle heads from the truck returning from Laluk area of Assam’s Lakhimpur,” Navin Singh, Superintendent of Police (SP), Biswanath. The persons arrested have been identified as Naziruddin Ahmed, Rahmat Ali, Abed Ali, Amir Hussain, and Naimuddin Ali.