Cattle-Laden Pickup Van Seized In Bhadrak

Bhadrak: Tension ran high near Motel chhak in Bhadrak after locals today detained a pickup van allegedly involved in illegal cattle transportation.

Suspecting that the cows were being illegally transported for slaughter, some youths intercepted the pickup van. It is being said that the cattle were being illegally transported from Jajpur to Kolkata.

Getting information, Town police rushed to the spot and rescued the cattle. Police also seized the pick-up van and detained the driver of the vehicle.

In another incident, three suspected cattle smugglers were killed in an accidental blast of a crude bomb used by them in West Bengal's Murshidabad district on Monday.

Smugglers usually tie a socket bomb to an animal's neck to scare off BSF jawans when they make a bid to arrest smuggling across the Indo-Bangla border, BSF officials said.

Another suspected smuggler was injured when they were preparing cattle heads for crossing the border in Farzipara village, which is "notorious" for smuggling to Bangladesh, they said.

The injured has been admitted to a government hospital.

"The village is notorious for cattle smuggling. We suspect that those who died too were cattle smugglers. They were preparing the cattle for cross-border smuggling. They usually tie socket bombs around animals' necks so that if BSF get hold of these the bombs to go off killing our jawan," a senior BSF official said.

Meanwhile, the BSF personnel are carrying out operations to nab the cow smugglers involved in cross-border cattle smuggling.

[With agency inputs]