Aligarh (UP), February 13 Police on Friday arrested ten people, including senior officials of a meat export unit here, for their alleged involvement in the trafficking of stolen buffaloes, officials said.
The arrested individuals include the firm's general manager, identified as Ravi Kumar, its liaison officer, Tabrez. Two security personnel, Chitranjan Sharma and Bisharat Husain, were also taken into custody.
Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Neeraj Kumar said there had been a sudden increase in buffalo theft cases over the past two days in villages under the jurisdiction of Khair and Tappal police stations.
"A special team scanned CCTV footage from dozens of villages and spotted a specific pick-up van at every location where buffaloes had been reported stolen," the SSP told reporters.
Following a search operation to track the vehicle, police found it unloading buffaloes at a meat export unit on the outskirts of the city, the SSP said.
Police subsequently reviewed CCTV footage of delivery operations at the factory for the past fortnight. "We found that the same pick-up vehicle had repeatedly delivered stolen buffaloes to the plant," the SSP added.
Following further investigation, ten staff members of the unit were arrested. All the accused have been booked under relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. A detailed probe is underway to determine the full extent of the racket, the officer added.
