Banihal/Jammu, May 28 (PTI) Four special police officers were removed from service after a departmental inquiry found them having links with cattle smugglers in Ramban district of Jammu and Kashmir, officials said on Saturday.

Ramban Senior Superintendent of Police Mohita Sharma ordered the disengagement of the SPOs -- Fulail Singh, Ajeet Singh, Satish Singh and Mohd Ayoub alias 'Mundri' -- from service with immediate effect for their involvement in bovine smuggling.

Also Read | PM Narendra Modi Inaugurates World's First Nano Urea Liquid Plant in Gandhinagar.

"They do not prove themselves as efficient police officials as their involvement in bovine smuggling can give bad impact to other SPOs and officials of the police department and malign the image of police in front of the public," the SSP said in her order.

A discrete inquiry into the conduct of the four SPOs was ordered on February 28 after it came to light that they were involved in facilitating safe passage to smugglers with livestock on the national highway, the officials said.

Also Read | Foreign Minister S Jaishankar Says, 'Connectivity With Myanmar, Bangladesh To Lead Huge Change'.

The officials said the SPOs, on being questioned, admitted to having links with bovine smugglers of Ramban district and also identified seven such smugglers.

Details of bank accounts of the SPOs were also obtained. Three of the SPOs received several lakh rupees in their bank accounts from unknown persons, the officials said, adding only the bank account of SPO Fulail Singh was found having salary transactions only.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)