10 cattle smugglers held in raids across 5 districts in Odisha, Rs 1.25 cr seized

Bhubaneswar/Keonjhar: In a coordinated operation spread across the districts of Jajpur, Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar, Bhadrak and Khurda, police on Saturday arrested 10 people and seized Rs 1.25 crore in cash in connection with alleged cattle smuggling.Police said the operation was launched on the basis of inputs and complaints, and was planned to retain the surprise element. A total of 46 police teams were part of the operation which was led by Keonjhar district police and supervised by DIG (western range) Brijesh Rai.Out of the 10 arrested, 9 were from Keonjhar and the other from Mayurbhanj. The accused were identified as Sk Rajan, Tipu Sultan, Kunu Sahu, Arjun Sahu, Sipu Sahu, Mruthynjaya Mohapatra, Sujit Mohanty, Sk Akbar, Sk Nasir and Sk Naeem.“Multiple teams of Keonjhar police raided Mayurbhanj. They received support from Mayurbhanj police. The supporters of smugglers tried to obstruct police, but they failed. We picked one from there and Rs 40 lakh was seized. From Bhadrak, Rs 60 lakh was seized, while Rs 25 lakh was recovered from Keonjhar,” DIG Rai said.The raids are currently ongoing and police expressed hope of seizing more cash, vehicles and other assets.

Total assets could run into Rs 100 crore, police said.According to the police, the operation was carried out in Santarapur, Kaliahata, Telkoi, Ghasipura, Turumunga and Jamujodi in Keonjhar district; Bishoi, Karanjia, Jharpokharia, Tentoposhi, Chadheibhol, Kendrei and Thakurmunda in Mayurbhanj district; Korei in Jajpur district as well as other places.“Coordinated raids on the houses of illegal cattle mafia were carried out in 46 places.

Two additional SPs, 5 DSPs, 25 inspectors, 36 SIs and ASIs were involved, while 8 platoon of police forces were deployed at the raiding places,” an officer said.Keonjhar SP Nitin Kushalkar said more than 56 cases were registered against the cattle mafia in different police stations in Keonjhar alone. “The miscreants were evading police arrest. They would ram vehicles into the police as well as attack and fire on the police.

Action was taken against them today,” the SP added.Police said they found documents pertaining to real estate, money and bank deposits. Money was counted using a machine. “We will seek permission from the court to confiscate their property. Action will be taken in this regard in the future,” Kushalkar said.Police said the seizure also included 11 four-wheelers and 13 two-wheelers. Apart from this, mobile phones and several bank documents were seized.