Cooch Behar: Two held over cow smuggling in Salbari Bazar

On Wednesday morning, tension flared up in the Salbari Bazar area of Shalbari-I GP, situated in Tufanganj II Block of Cooch Behar over an incident of alleged cow smuggling.

Members of a local club seized a pickup van carrying eight cows, prompting the local residents to gather at the scene. The agitated crowd vandalised the vehicle on the spot. Upon receiving information about the incident, the police from the Baxirhat Police Station arrived at the scene and managed to bring the situation under control.

They recovered the vehicle and took it into custody. Two individuals were handed over to the authorities by the local residents.

Paritosh Karjee, a local resident said: “Cow theft has been occurring in the area for some time. To address this issue, members of the local club have been patrolling different areas. On Wednesday morning, when they became suspicious of two vehicles, they attempted to stop them. While one vehicle managed to give us the slip, the locals apprehended the other from in front of a house in the locality. Upon inspecting the vehicle, they discovered cows being transported for smuggling. The locals handed them over to the police.”

Cops recovered the cows and seized the vehicle. They also arrested two individuals. A probe in underway.