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Cattle carcasses recovered in suburb

by Staff reporter
03 Dec 2021 at 00:27hrs | Views
Three cows and an ox's carcasses were found in a gully in the bushy area of Methodist Village and Magwegwe suburb on Wednesday morning.

The carcasses were discovered in a gully by Goodwell Mhlophe (65) from Methodist Village who was cycling towards Magwegwe as he passed through a bushy area from Methodist Village to Magwegwe.

It could not be established what led to the thieves abandoning the carcasses though the meat was seemingly destined for the western suburbs.

Mhlophe reported the matter to Magwegwe police who then attended the scene and found four cattle carcasses comprising three cows and one ox, all with a brand.

Two of the carcasses were unskinned while the other two had some of their parts cut but unskinned.

The police located the  owner, Lazarus Muronzi (62) through the brand found on the carcasses.

On his arrival, he confirmed the carcasses to be those of his stollen cattle and was given the recovered carcasses.

"On 30 November 2021 at around 1900 hours, I left my cattle in an enclosed cattle pen.

The next day around 0500 hours I went to the pen to release the cattle to the grazing areas and found three cows and ox were missing," Muronzi told the police.

The stolen cattle were valued at US$2 300.

Residents narrated many different cases involving stocktheft in their neighbourhood.

"These cattle are taken as far as Bilas, Island and villages after Cowdray Park and herded to Magwegwe, Gwabalanda and Pumula suburbs where they are slaughtered and transported easily.

"The sad part is that the boys employed as cattle herders in these villages are the ones who end up stealing our cattle to the suburbs for easy transportation," said a resident from an area known as Island.

The Island residents are appealing for help from the police in protecting their livestock.

They are requesting the police to check the meat sold in butcheries whether it's cleared as they have observed some butcheries selling 1kg of beef at US$1,99 yet in other butcheries it is sold at a price of US$4,00 a kg.

They believe that the stolen meat is sold to these butcheries who sell meat at a cheap price.

"There are a few individuals we know who did stock theft and were released on bail. We believe this promotes stock theft and so we are appealing to the courts to help us by not releasing these people through bail," said one of the residents.

Frustrated residents have threatened to take the law into their hands, warning that they would resort to "radical means".

Source - B-Metro