Bovine smugglers attacked a police party in Samba at Madhera village in Samba district this morning.As per the reports, a police party from Rakh Amb Tali Police Chowki in Samba rushed to the Spot, Madhera Village where 14 to 16 persons carrying 40 to 50 bovines who were being smuggled by foot. Under the garb of nomads, these smugglers were trying to take the cattle to Kashmir Valley.The police got the information and immediately a team led by Chowki In charge, Sub Inspector, Balbir Singh, rushed to the spot. Seeing the police in front, the smugglers first tried to deceive them by pretending that they were nomads, but when they saw that things were not working, they suddenly attacked police who were small in number. SI Balbir Singh, ASI Vyas Kumar and Krishna Kumar were injured in this attack. The SI has suffered a severe injury due to a fracture in his hand, the other two police personnel have suffered injuries on their heads and legs. Despite being injured the police did not give in. The police personnel also fired a few rounds in the air in their defense.After the firing the smugglers fled from there leaving the cattle behind. However police personnel chased them and caught a smuggler Iqbal, son of Rashid resident of Chak Manga Samba. The police also confiscated his auto JK-14-7574. The arrested smuggler has revealed the identity of others in the group.DySP Samba, Usman Choudhary said that all the Nakas have been alerted. The absconding smugglers have been identified and will be taken into custody very soon! In the evening, several police officers along with additional police force rushed to the spot and rescued nine animals from there and shifted them to a safer place.He said Samba Police has registered a case under relevant sections and started their further investigation.It may be recalled that the cases of cow smuggling are increasing continuously in Jammu and Kashmir. To crack down on animal smugglers, the police have also put up Nakas at various places. However smugglers are adopting new tactics to take their cattle to the Kashmir Valley. The smugglers even pose to be nomads to take the cattle to higher reaches for grazing as was done in today’s case.
