Day after cattle found dead near Nabha, police arrest 6 smugglers

Tribune News Service

Patiala, August 2

A day after 11 head of cattle were found dead near Nabha, the police today claimed to have busted an inter-state gang of bovine smugglers and arrested six of its members.

The suspects are involved in the smuggling of stray cattle and other animals from Punjab to other states.

Addressing mediapersons, SSP Deepak Pareek said various teams were formed to arrest the suspects and recover the vehicle used in the crime. “Our teams managed to arrest Mohhamad Salim, Sandeep Singh and Mohammad Dilsad, all Malerkotla residents, Afzal of Saharanpur, and Vinod and Sunil of Samana,” he added.

The SSP said during grilling, the suspects confessed to have picked up the stray cattle from near Khanna in their mini truck. “However, the truck developed a snag following which the suspects waited for sunset near Nabha. Since they loaded more cattle, they died inside the vehicle. The suspects then off loaded the cattle from their vehicle in the wee hours of Monday.”

The police said the kingpin, Salim, had over 34 cases of cattle smuggling registered against him at various police stations of Punjab.

Meanwhile, Patiala CIA in-charge Shaminder Singh said they would now cross-examine the suspects to corroborate the statements made by them.

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