CATTLE CROSSING
MALAYSIAN authorities bust cow smuggling racket ahead of Raya.
IT took three days for 300 head of cattle, goat and sheep worth almost RM1 million to be smuggled into Kelantan via Sungai Golok.
The General Operations Force (GOF) believes the number of smuggled livestock is expected to rise in the coming days due to the demand for meat ahead of Hari Raya Aidilfitri.
But what’s interesting was the sheer speed with which the smuggling was accomplished: it took less than five minutes for the livestock to be moved from the Thai side to the Malaysian side of the river.
GOF Ninth Battalion commanding officer Superintendent Ramly Poncho said smugglers took advantage of high demand from locals to bring as much as livestock as they could from Thailand into Kelantan.
He said this was apparent when the battalion seized more than 300 head of mostly cattle in three separate operations along the border between Friday and Sunday.
The seized animals comprised 235 cows, 46 goats and 38 sheep that were seized in Tok Uban, Pasir Mas, Kampung Pulau (Pengkalan
Kubor) and Kampung Kubang Pak Itam (Rantau Panjang).
Ramly said two Malaysians were detained for possession of the smuggled cows in Tok Uban. No one was arrested at the other two locations.
“Cattle is being sold cheaply in Thailand. The price of livestock was more than double here, and smugglers who are willing to risk getting caught by the authorities can make a fortune.
“What is unique about their activities is that they pulled the cows across the river from the Thai side. The animals were tied with rope in a group and reached illegal jetties here within a few minutes,” he said yesterday.
Ramly said from the jetty, the smugglers would then send the animals to their destinations with lorries or other modes of transportation, which were determined by their buyers.
Ramly said the GOF officers found that most of the smuggled animals had ear tags, which were fake. This was to make them look like legally certified livestock.
The 300 seized livestock were later handed over to the Kelantan Department of Malaysian Quarantine and Inspection Service for further action.