6 cattle smugglers held, they had tried to run over toll staff

Adilabad: Cracking down on cattle smuggling, the Neradigonda police arrested six members of an inter-state gang and rescued 44 heads of cattle, including bulls and cows, in the Adilabad district on Friday, September 4.

A report in Hindu, quoting the police, said the accused attempted to run over toll plaza staff at Rolmamda in Neradigonda mandal after they tried to stop the speeding vehicles on September 1. The suspects then broke through the toll gate and fled in a container lorry and another vehicle.

During the investigation, a police team apprehended four members of the gang during a vehicle check on the outskirts of Kuntala village in the early hours of Friday. Two others were arrested later in the day in Adilabad. The arrested were identified as Md. Shafi Mudassir, 31, of Adilabad; Firdous Baig, 38; Hyder Ali, 21; and Bheemrao Sevatkar, 22, all from Nagpur; Sandeep Vittal, 35, of Yavatmal in Maharashtra; and Gopal Singh Shekhawat, 32, of Adilabad.

Police seized four grams of ganja from one of the accused. Of the 47 cattle recovered from the gang, 24 bulls and 23 cows, three were found dead inside the container lorry, sources said.

Investigators suspect the gang was part of an organised cattle-smuggling racket. The accused allegedly used a car as a pilot vehicle ahead of the container lorry to alert them to police checks and help them evade interception on highways.

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