The Police have launched a manhunt following reports that a cattle baron allegedly swindled farmers cattle worth over P5 million.
The victims of the scam include the Minister of Minerals Resources, Green Technology and Energy Security (MMGE) Lefoko Moagi who has been swindled about 40 herd of cattle by the cattle baron.
The director of Anti-Stock Theft Branch at the Botswana Police Service (BPS) senior assistant police commissioner Maloti Segala told this publication that her branch has launched a manhunt after a well-known man in the central district swindled farmers of cattle.
“It is true that my branch launched a man hunt after a middle- aged man swindled farmers a huge number of cattle,” she said.
A warrant of arrest has been issued against the suspect and police are still tracing his whereabouts.
Segala explained that sometime early this year, her office registered a considerable number of cases in which farmers were allegedly swindled by a cattle “agent”.
She said the suspect would collect cattle from farmers without any police clearance certificate or written documentation at all and later vanish into thin air without paying any “thebe” to his unsuspecting victims.
Segala revealed that most of the farmers who allegedly fell victim to the suspect’s fraudulent ways are in Serowe, Letlhakane and Sowa.
She added that in Serowe alone, there were 129 cases in which cattle were allegedly obtained by false pretences by the alleged suspect.
Segola said their investigations have revealed that most of the cattle that were ‘stolen’ by the alleged suspect were sold to various feedlots in Lobatse and later sold in neighbouring countries particularly South Africa.
She further said police have not yet recovered cattle that are believed to have been ‘stolen’ by the culprit.
She stated that her branch has written to the ministry of Agriculture and it has promised that it would black-list the alleged suspect.
She advised famers to always consult the police to provide them with necessary documents before they could sell their cattle.
The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security Karabo Gare would not want to be drawn in to the matter stating that it was a criminal matter and therefore the police were better placed to comment.
In a terse response, Gare said “I don’t think the ministry has much to say about the matter.”
Immediate comment from Moagi was not available.
