Santa Cruz, St Elizabeth – The St Elizabeth police are celebrating the arrest of four people – three men and a woman – for cow stealing early Friday morning.

Police say that in response to a telephone call, a police party stopped a mini-van with the four people aboard on the Crawford main road in the parish’s south west.

A search of the van revealed the carcasses of four animals as well as cutting tools, including an axe, hacksaw, knives and a scale. Subsequent investigations revealed that the animals had been stolen from two farms in Crawford.

“We believe we have made a major dent in the cattle-stealing activity in this part of the parish,” said chief of police in St Elizabeth, Superintendent Maurice Robinson. “We believe these people we now have in custody have been involved in a number of other similar incidents.”

Robinson said formal charges will be laid against the four following the completion of investigations. The names of those held were not released but Robinson said they were from Norwood Gardens in St James, Little River in St James, Belmont in Westmoreland and Crawford.

Robinson said the success of the police in Friday’s operation was a direct result of a “cattle hotline” he set up recently. The Observer two weeks ago was the first to publish the numbers of the hotline. They are 965-2232, 965-2026, 548-5807 and 990-0670.

Cattle stealing has been on the increase islandwide in recent years. This, after restrictions on imported beef caused by the Mad Cow scare of a few years ago triggered a more than 200 per cent increase in beef prices.

In St Elizabeth, the situation has become especially bad in recent months.