The Mossos d'Esquadra have criminally reported a man from Alt Urgell for an alleged theft of bovine cattle, three counts of document forgery, and one count of fraud, after detecting a system with which he would have passed off other people's cattle as his own to introduce them into slaughterhouses.
The investigation began in December 2025 following a complaint from a farmer in the region about the disappearance of three cows that were grazing on his land. The case focused on a maneuver that not only affected the ownership of the animals but also sanitary control and the traceability of the livestock census.
The inspection detected duplicate ear tags and animals without registered deactivation
The Mossos' Environmental Unit conducted the investigation along with the veterinary services of the Department of Agriculture. During the investigation, both teams located animals with characteristics matching those reported as stolen.
According to the evidence gathered, the investigated individual changed the official identification ear tags, slaughtered the animals as if they were his own, and did not deactivate the deceased animals in the Livestock Management Registry.
Furthermore, the agents detected that he requested duplicate ear tags with the same identification code in a staggered manner over time. This pattern eventually raised suspicions in the inspection services.
One of the animals was found alive on the inspected farm
The alteration of the livestock identification system is considered a serious offense because it complicates the sanitary monitoring of the livestock and its traceability. In a sector where every animal movement must be recorded, document manipulation also affects the transparency of the control chain.
The alleged fraud is attributed to the economic benefits the man would have obtained by introducing the cattle into slaughterhouses as if they were his legal property.
Finally, an inspection of the suspect's farm confirmed the irregularities detected during the investigation. In that operation, the agents recovered one of the three missing animals alive.