Cops bust cattle theft racket ; arrest 3

Cops bust cattle theft racket ; arrest 3

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore, Sep 25, 2013 : The Suratkal police have finally managed to get some breakthrough in the investigation into the cattle theft cases.

 

They have arrested three persons said to be members of an inter-state cattle theft racket. The arrests were made on September 24, Tuesday.

It may be recalled here that residents of Idya near Suratkal had picketed the Suratkal police station on September 22, Sunday protesting against police inaction

Those arrested are Sarfaraz alias Choppu (25) from Jokatte, Nisar (22) and Sheikh alias Umar Farooq (27). Interrogations revealed that the trio worked for one Haneef alias Gandha Haneef from Kundapur. It is learnt, Haneef had also provided them a Scorpio vehicle which was modified to enable smuggling of cattle.

In a staggering revelation, the accused have reportedly admitted that they had stolen 2000  cattle from Dakshina Kannada, Hassan, Shimoga and Chikmagalur during the past two years.

Their modus operandi was to move around in the Scorpio vehicle, lift any cattle which was straying on the road and even identify cattle sheds which they targeted during night time. They even used to cleverly transport the stolen cattle to the butcheries by 9 am so that the meat would be ready to be supplied to the market.

The arrested trio have also revealed that they used to sell the stolen cattle to one Shahzaaz of Ullal for  Rs 5000 to Rs 6000 per cattle. They have even admitted to have stolen cattle from the houses of Diwaker Shetty of Kuttettur and Baby of Krishnapur.

It is said, one Haneef  who operated from Ullal, Bantwal and Kundapur was the kingpin of the racket and that there were ten groups of cattle lifters, each group having four to five members.

Yet another shocking revelation made by the arrested trio that they had full political backing.

The trio were produced before the court and have been remanded to judicial custody  till October 3.