Cattle smugglers hurl bombs at police in bid to escape; 2 detained in Cuttack

In a scene straight out of a Bollywood movie, a chase ensued between police and cow smugglers on Banki T-Bridge of Cuttack district after the latter tried to escape by hurling bombs at the cops late Wednesday night.

The cow smugglers hurled bombs at the raid team and tried to escape, prompting officials from Baideswar Police Station to fire blanks into the air. This resulted in the detention of two suspects and the rescue of 26 cows.

However, other members of the smuggling gang managed to give the police a slip.

According to sources, the cattle were being smuggled from Begunia in Khurda district to be sold in Tigira of Cuttack district. Acting on a tip-off, a police team from Baideshwar police station tried to apprehend the smugglers, but they tried to escape after hurling bombs, leading to the chase.

After chasing them for more than 15-20km, the cops managed to detain two of the cow smugglers while others managed to escape.

In a recent incident, a cow was burnt alive and four others were burnt critically after a pick-up van carrying cattle overturned near Podadiha Square under Kaptipada police limits in Mayurbhanj district on Monday night.

The incident occurred when the cattle smugglers were transporting eight cows from the Thakurmunda area. Due to unknown reasons, the pick-up van overturned and caught fire, killing one cow. Fortunately, locals rushed to the rescue of other cows from the burning vehicle.

As per reports, there has been an uptick in cattle smuggling in Odisha that has turned into a major challenge for police administration.