Cattle smuggling gang busted after gunfight in Lucknow; 5 held
Deputy commissioner of police (South) Nipun Agarwal said the accused, Shoaib alias Ganda, was shot in the leg during retaliatory firing by the police and has been admitted to a hospital.
A suspected cattle smuggler was injured in police firing late Friday night in Lucknow’s Gosaiganj area after he allegedly opened fire at a police team. The operation led to the arrest of five members of an inter-state smuggling gang active across Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, police said on Saturday.
Deputy commissioner of police (South) Nipun Agarwal said the accused, Shoaib alias Ganda, was shot in the leg during retaliatory firing by the police and has been admitted to a hospital. Shoaib has a criminal history including murder and cattle smuggling. He, along with Jabir, Faizan, Munir, and Firasat, was wanted in several cases across multiple districts.
The arrests followed weeks of technical surveillance after police intercepted a 12-tyre truck transporting 20 cattle on the Purvanchal Expressway on May 5. The truck had mismatched number plates, and broke down during the chase. The smugglers abandoned the truck and fled in a four-wheeler, police said in a press statement.
An FIR was registered at Gosaiganj police station under the Uttar Pradesh Prevention of Cow Slaughter Act, Animal Cruelty Act, and Section 318(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). Surveillance teams began tracing the suspects using CCTV footage and electronic tracking.
Police recovered a country-made pistol (.315 bore) with one live and two spent cartridges, nine mobile phones, and a car bearing registration number DL-1CAG-3934 used in the escape.
During interrogation, the accused disclosed that they sourced cattle from districts such as Meerut, Rampur, Hardoi, and Muzaffarnagar. The animals were then transported to Sasaram in Bihar for illegal slaughter. To avoid detection, the gang used four-wheelers to scout safe routes and bypass police checkpoints.
