Cattle rustling: Police charge three men with alleged theft of 306 cattle from Louisa Downs station

Police have charged three men over the elaborate cattle rustling heist of hundreds of livestock worth more than $250,000 from a station in the Kimberley region. The 306 cattle were allegedly stolen from Louisa Downs Pastoral Aboriginal Corporation, a large cattle station midway between Fitzroy Crossing and Halls Creek, and trucked to a property in the Northern Territory in October 2022. It is alleged between October 12 and October 24 of that year one of the men organised an illegal muster of the station by setting up camp then using earth moving machinery to create a road near the neighbouring Mount Pierre Pastoral Aboriginal Corporation station. From there it is alleged a portable set of cattle yards were erected at the location to facilitate mustering without permission. It is further alleged one of the charged men organised the muster by using two helicopters and a ground crew, which used bull catching buggies. The 306 cattle mustered from Mount Pierre Station were then trucked to a set of cattle yards were tagged as coming from Louisa Downs. Following a request from officers attached to the WA Police Rural Crime Team, which was formed to tackle theft and other crimes in the State’s $9 billion farming industry, NT Police executed an Extra-Territorial search warrant at a property on the Adelaide River on January 18 this year. Rural Crime Team officers were able to identify that some of the cattle at the property had been sold and exported. Police said the average price for the cattle sold at the time was $827.09 per head and placed to the total value of the cattle stolen at $253,089.54. It has been further alleged that part of the proceeds of the sales were deposited into several accounts of the accused people over several months. On April 16 police charged three men, a 42-year-old man from the Northern Territory, and a 41-year-old man and a 39-year-old man, both from Fitzroy Crossing, with stealing. The two men from Fitzroy Crossing are expected to appear in court on May 14, the man from the Northern Territory will appear in court on July 9.