A senior court official was one of two men arrested on Friday morning in Brakfontein, KwaZulu-Natal, for stock theft.
KwaZulu-Natal police spokesperson Col Thembeka Mbele said officers from the stock theft task team were alerted about the illegal slaughter of cows on a farm and they proceeded to the area.
On their arrival, police found five men but three managed to flee the scene.
“Two men aged 40 and 44 were immediately arrested,” Mbele said.
She said police recovered cow carcasses, ropes, axes and knives.
She said the suspects will be charged for stock theft, cruelty to animals, defeating the ends of justice and possession of dangerous weapons. They will appear at the Vryheid magistrate's court on Monday.
The suspects’ vehicle was also seized.
Mbele said police were continuing with investigations to establish whether the suspects could be linked to similar crimes.
According to Mbele, the owner of the livestock only became aware of the theft when the police alerted her and she positively identified her livestock.
KwaZulu-Natal acting provincial police commissioner Maj-Gen Thulani Gonya said police would continue with such operations and that they would not be deterred by the “status of the criminal”.
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