Under the 'Yukthiya' operation launched islandwide, the Police have initiated another special program with the support of intelligence units to crack down on cattle thieves.
Police said dairy farmers raising cows all over the country had complained that their cows were stolen by cattle thieves on various occasions.
They mentioned that various requests were received from government officials in relevant fields. The Acting Inspector General of Police, Deshabandu Tennakoon, after examining relevant statistics and discussing with senior police officers, including those from the Civil Defense Security Department, had conducted an investigation on this matter.
It was observed that the North Central Province is the area where cattle theft is mostly done, while it was observed that cattle theft is also happening to some extent in the North West and South Provinces also.
From 01.01.2023 to 24.01.2024, a total of 575 cows were stolen and out of them 336 cattle thefts were reported in the North Central Province. According to the value presented by the complainants about the lost cattle, it was found that the value of the stolen cattle exceeded Ts. 105 million.
It is observed that all the stolen cows are used for meat and in order to prevent this situation, the Acting Inspector General of Police gave orders and instructions to implement a special program.
Police said this program will be implemented firstly in the North Central Province and after that the plans to implement this in other provinces of the island that need attention will be implemented soon.
