Jaipur rural police on Sunday arrested two men from Mewat, Haryana for allegedly smuggling cows from the city to Haryana, Times of India has reported.

The Shahpura police had intercepted a suspicious pick-up truck on the highway. “We searched their vehicle and found a calf and two cows. They did not have proper permission for transporting the cattle. Therefore, we asked them to come to the police station,” said assistant sub-inspector Jagdish Prasad.

The two suspects have been identified as Khalid and Shahabuddin, both residents of Mewat in Haryana. “They said that they had brought these cattle from Jaipur’s animal fair. We are investigating the case,” Prasad told TOI.

The police said that they are treating it as a case of smuggling. “The matter is currently being investigated. They said that they had brought these cows from Jaipur city. We are checking if they had proper papers for the transportation,” Prasad said.

Mewat, or Nuh district of Haryana as it is now known, is the epicentre of the cow smuggling mafia which operates in the form of well-organized and well-armed gangs that primarily steal cattle from Rajasthan (Alwar, Bharatpur districts), Haryana, West UP and Delhi-NCR. However, the illegal beef trade is spread all over the country and has connections with terror groups too. This cattle smuggling also  leads to violence clashes when farmers, cow protection volunteers and police try to stop the smugglers.

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