Officers from the Hunter Valley Rural Crime Prevention Team - with assistance from Hunter Valley Police District and Rural Crime Investigators, including four Horseback Accredited Rural Crime Investigators, and their working dogs, visited a property on Putty Valley Road, Putty and executed a search warrant on Tuesday, September 1.

As police mustered the cattle on the property, rural crime investigators found eight heifers and one steer that weren't appropriately tagged and registered, as per requirements under the Biosecurity (National Livestock Identification System) Regulations 2017.

Upon further inspection, investigators identified and recovered three cattle that were previously reported stolen from a nearby property.

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Whilst at the scene, police spoke with a 40-year-old woman from Putty.

As a result of their inquiries, the woman was fined more than $10,000 and issued twelve infringements for the offences of breach of mandatory measure - Section 46 (Farm property, Reportable transaction), National Livestock Identification System, Regulations 2017 and not possess accurate stock transport statement.

Following further investigations police spoke to a 70-year-old man from Broke on September 3. He was fined more than $6,000 and issued seven infringements for the offences of breach of mandatory measure - Section 18 (Failure to properly identify stock) National Livestock Identification System, Regulations 2017 and not possess accurate stock transport statement.

The stolen cattle have been returned to their owner and investigations are continuing into the incident. If you have any information about the stolen cattle, please call the Rural Crime Investigators at Muswellbrook Police Station.

Anyone with information about rural crime is urged to contact Crime Stoppers 1800 333 000 or their local police station.

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