Rayagada: Acting on a tip-off, the Kalyansingpur police in Kalahandi district seized 11 pick-up vans near Kalyansingpur and rescued more than 40 buffaloes from the vehicles Monday morning.
Police arrested 16 persons in this connection.
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Sources said that some youths informed police about the persons engaged in illegal cattle trading.
According to a source, police were tipped off about 11 buffalo-carrying container trucks moving from Kalyansingpur town to Kalahandi-Andhra Pradesh border area at around 10:00pm Sunday. They intercepted the vehicles at the toll booth and detained 11 pick-up vans while the remaining managed to speed away.
Police said that the buffalo smugglers were exporting the buffaloes from Kalahandi to Andhra Pradesh.
It is said illegal cattle transportation was being carried out mainly through two corridors—one via Balasore and Mayurbhanj to West Bengal and the other to Telangana and Andhra Pradesh via Ganjam, Gajapati, Rayagada and Koraput districts of Odisha.
PNN