SAMBALPUR: Two cattle smugglers of West Bengal were injured and arrested following an encounter with Sambalpur police in the wee hours of Tuesday.
The injured cattle smugglers are Sk Manto Haque (34) and Sk Arif (22) of Howrah in West Bengal. Truck driver Davinder Singh (25) of Punjab and local cattle supplier Narendra Meher (29) of S Rampur in Sonepur were also nabbed by police.
Apart from 30 cattle and a trailer truck, two country-made pistols, four live ammunition, as many empty cartridges, a black SUV used as escort vehicle, Rs 15,000 cash and mobile phones were seized from the accused.
Sources said acting on a tip-off, police teams intercepted the trailer truck carrying the cattle along with the escort vehicle near Sambalpur city railway station at around 5 am. While the escort vehicle sped away after seeing the cops, police detained the truck and arrested the two accused - Davinder and Narendra.
After a brief chase, police managed to stop the escort vehicle. While four occupants of the vehicle fled, two others - Manto and Arif - opened fire at the police. In retaliation, the cops resorted to five rounds of restricted firing in which the accused duo suffered bullet injuries on their legs. Subsequently, they were taken to VIMSAR, Burla for treatment.
Sambalpur SP Mukesh Bhamoo said the cattle smugglers were enroute to West Bengal from Sohela. Davinder had rented the truck on monthly basis from Rajasthan. Narendra, being a local, helped the cattle smugglers to navigate through the interior routes. “We will verify the statements of the accused and examine their mobiles phones. A manhunt has been launched to nab the other accused who managed to escape,” he said.
Briefing the media, IG (Northern Range) Himanshu Kumar Lal said, “All the cattle smugglers operating in Sambalpur are from other states. They enter the district to escort the cattle-laden trucks safely outside the state border. They also transport the cattle in a very inhuman manner. The crackdown on cattle smuggling will be intensified in the coming days.”