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PATNA: The Araria district authorities launched a major crackdown against cattle smuggling and arrested five men from Dholbajja under the Forbesganj police station area on Saturday.

Altogether 74 cattle, mostly buffaloes and their calves, were seized during the operation, led by a joint team of police and officials of the animal husbandry department.

Forbesganj SDPO Manoj Kumar said, “Acting on a tip-off, a team of officials intercepted a truck on NH-57 near Dholbajja and found cattle being transported to Bangladesh.

However, 19 of them were found dead. “The remaining 55 were handed over to the local authorities. The cattle were being smuggled to Bangladesh from Supaul district,” the SDPO added.

According to SDO Mohammed Yunush Ansari, the five arrested cattle smugglers, hailing from Supaul, are being quizzed by senior police officers.

Forbesganj police station SHO Kaushal Kumar said police swung into action after being informed about the smugglers illegally involved in the transportation of cattle across Bangladesh border.

“The arrested smugglers failed to provide any valid documents to prove that they were businessmen. The crackdown on illegal cattle cartel will continue,” the SHO said.

Three days ago, over 70 cattle were seized from a truck on the Mahua-Muzaffarpur road in Vaishali district and eight smugglers held. Police said the arrested men could not produce any valid documents or transportation of cattle permit.

About a month ago, an alleged kingpin of cattle smuggling racket, Mohammed Sarfaraz, was arrested by the Guwahati police from Phulwaria in Gopalganj district in Bihar .

