District Police Officer (DPO) retired Capt Mansoor Aman, Subdivisional Police Officer (SDPO) Farooq Jan and Station House Officer (SHO) Chitral Munirul Mulk told local reporters at the Chitral police station that there had been complaints about theft of cattle from different parts of the district. The mysterious disappearance of goats, oxen etc., had become a headache for the police, they said. They said a police team stopped a suspicious car (Ghugai) on Chitral-Garam Chashma road on Sunday night. The police checked the vehicle and questioned three people travelling in it which revealed that they were involved in the cattle theft. The officials said footage obtained from close circuit television (CCTV) installed on the road also confirmed that these three suspects were involved in the theft of cattle in the area. The police also presented before the reporters the three arrested suspects identified as Zar Muhammad, son of Hazrat Umaer of Arandu currently settled in Attany, Ayun; Muhammad Noor, son of Dibar Khan, Ayun, and Hazrat Hussain, son of Rozi Khan, an Afghan refugee settled in Suvir, Drosh. They also confessed to their involvement in the theft of cattle. They said for the last six months they had stolen three oxen and 77 goats from different villages of Lotkoh, Shoghore, Booni, Mulkhow and Reshun. The suspects said they slaughtered some of the animals at Orghoch and sold the meat. Most of the animals were taken to Timargarah and sold at the cattle market at high rates, they added. In reply to a question, they said they took the cattle out of Chitral by using unused tracks to avoid security checkposts. The police said they also recovered knives used by the thieves to slaughter the stolen cattle.–Muhkam Uddin]]>
