Udupi: udupi police have nabbed two cattle thieves and rescued 21 cattle and calves which were being illegally transported to Mangaluru, on Thursday.

Abubakkar Siddique (31) and Iqbal (28) are the arrested persons. Two accused namely Asif and Shabbir have fled from the spot. All four arrested person are residents of Mangaluru.

The accused were transporting these cattle for slaughter in a Mahindra pick-up. They were stopped at Santhekatte by the Udupi police, but the accused managed to escape from the clutches of them. Later police successfully stopped the vehicle at Ambalpady junction and two people were taken into custody.

The accused were produced to court and court have ordered for the judicial custody.

Udupi police have registered a case.