ULAN BATOR, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- The number of livestock thefts has continued to increase significantly in Mongolia, the country's National Police Agency (NPA) said Saturday.
"A total of 1,809 thefts of livestock animals were recorded across the country in 2019, up 65.1 percent from the previous year," the NPA said in a statement.
Livestock theft has been one of the pressing issues for the herders of the nomadic country, where more than 230,000 herder households have livestock animals, and the number of livestock animals surpassed 70 million by the end of 2019, said the country's National Statistics Office.
Attempts to make easy money and weak implementation of laws are said to be the main reasons for the increase in livestock theft.
Most recently, 10 men were arrested on Tuesday night while slaughtering seven cattle of a herder in the central Mongolian Tuv province to sell the hides and meat of the animals.
According to Mongolian law, a person who is found guilty of livestock theft will face a prison sentence of between six months to five years.
The country's lawmakers are now working to strengthen relevant laws and regulations to crack down on livestock theft.
