12 Myanmar breed cattle seized in Tripura; 3 held for smuggling

The arrest and seizure came within 48 hours of recovering over 80 Myanmar breed cattle from Dhalai district

Three smugglers were arrested with 12 cattle of Myanmar breed in Tripura’s North district on Tuesday, police said. The arrest and seizure came within 48 hours of recovering over 80 Myanmar breed cattle from Dhalai district.

Police suspect that the cattle were being smuggled to Bangladesh. (Representative Image)

The incident occurred at Muzaffarnagar under Damcherra police station.

The three arrested persons have been identified as Litan Mia (30), Zamal Hussain

(27) and Abdul Fatar (34). Litan and Zamal are residents of Melagarh and Sonamura, respectively, in Sepahijala district, and Abdul is from Damcherra.

Police said that they came to know on May 29 that Myanmar breed cattle would be smuggled via Mizoram and would enter Panisagar sub-division in North district.

Accordingly, police personnel were posted at all Naka points of Damcherra throughout the night till a 12-wheeler lorry carrying fa ew persons and 12 cattle entered Muzaffarnagar in the early morning.

Police suspect that they were smuggling the cattle to Bangladesh.

“We seized the cattle and arrested three persons who were in the truck. We suspect there were a few more people who fled from the spot. We took a case under Section 382 (F) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 11 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960. We are interrogating them to find out more details,” Panisagar sub divisional police officer, Soumya Debbarma, said.

“This is likely to be the first such huge seizure of cattle at Damcherra in past two years,” he said.

Two days ago, the Border Security Force (BSF) seized 86 Myanmar breed cattle from Shibbari, a remote village in Dhalai district, and detained 18 persons for their alleged involvement in smuggling.