Police cracks down on bovine smugglers, seizes 6,500 kg beef 18 booked in 9 cases

Lokmat News Network - Nagpur

Nothing for months and then flash raids to net 6,500 kgs of beef, 16 cows awaiting slaughter and 18 accused, when the police get to business its gobsmacking time! The Panchpaoli Police conducted flash raids in their jurisdiction on Monday and recovered the tonnes of bovine meat, badly kept skinny cows and booked 18 persons, nine of whom were placed under arrest.

The sudden raids threw the entire illegal bovine trade business in disarray and was talked about in all pockets of the city where beef is clandestinely sold. The Panchpaoli Police crackdown was limited to their area of jurisdiction and beef was found to be stored in nine places.

Samples of seized beef were sent for forensic analysis while the 6.5 tonnes of meat was sent to the Bhandewadi garbage dumping ground for disposal. The seized animals were sent to shelter homes run by the Nagpur Municipal Corporation. The accused included, four persons named Saddam Qureshi besides Nazaz Qureshi, Jatun Qureshim, Mujjamil Qureshi, Zakir Qureshi, Sheikh Mukhtar Qureshi, Sufiyan Qureshi, Zubai Qureshi, Imran Qureshi, Sheikh Lala Qureshi, Muksad Qureshi, Naushad Qureshi, Maqsood Qureshi, Firoz Qureshi and Mohd. Shahzad Qureshi. Names of other arrested accused and those booked were being noted by the police when reports came in.

Out of all the accused police have arrested 9 butchers. They were produced before court and sent to police custody till September 13.

The city is on the cow smuggling route of beef transporters who cross the city enroute to Hyderabad and other places in Southern India where beef is in demand. There have been several instances of cow vigilantes getting into altercations with the cattle smuggling mafia and the police too chasing them. On and off some smugglers are caught by the police while most make a safe get away. There was a case of two smugglers lassoing a stray cow in the early hours in Gittikhadan Police jurisdiction recently and stuffing the bleating animal in their car. A passerby who had witnessed the incident had questioned the smugglers who tried to mow him down while fleeing.

In the present instance the police, besides the beef, seized a moped, three swords, two washing machines and the 16 animals all collectively valued at Rs 13.65 lakh. The police also uncovered four cases of electricity theft in the raids. The action was taken under the guidance of DCP Gorakh Bhamre and DCP Rahul Madne by senior PI of Panchpaoli Police Station, Vaibhav Jadhav and his team.

Tehsil police rescues five cows

Following a tipoff, Tehsil police raided the house of Sameer Khan in Mominpura where five cows were allegedly kept in cruel conditions for killing. Police have rescued the bovines and booked Sameer in the case.