Jammu and Kashmir police arrest three for smuggling 116 bovines in Rajouri district

Jammu: Three persons were on Sunday arrested for allegedly smuggling 116 bovines in Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri district, the police said. Acting on a specific information, a police team set up a checkpost near the Churung Bridge in the Thanamandi belt of the district. As the smugglers came to know about it, they took the animals off the vehicles and attempted to cross the checkpost on foot, a police officer said. [caption id=“attachment_3928227” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. AFP[/caption] The police managed to nab three of the smugglers, while the others fled taking advantage of the darkness and by pelting stones at the policemen, he added. “While three persons have been arrested, a hunt is on for the rest of the bovine smugglers,” the officer said. The police also rescued 116 bovines and seized 16 vehicles of the accused, he said, adding that the accused had a plan to take smuggle the bovines into the Kashmir region. A case was registered in connection with the incident and an investigation was underway, he said. Since the blanket ban on the movement of livestock was imposed by the district administration, the bovine smugglers had adopted a new strategy of smuggling the animals on foot and loading them onto vehicles after crossing a particular checkpost, the officer added. Many such bovine-smuggling attempts had been foiled at Thanamandi in the recent past, he said.