DOZENS of cattle have been seized by police from two properties as part of a rural fraud investigation.
New England and Oxley police raided a farm near Bingara last week as part of what they claim is an cross-border fraud probe.
On the same day, Queensland police, backed by the organised rural crime squad, searched a property near Goondiwindi.
During both raids, police mustered cattle at the properties, examining several hundred head of stock.
Ten cattle were seized at the Queensland property and 12 cattle were seized from the Bingara property under suspicion of having altered identifying features, police said.
A further 12 cattle at the Bingara location were returned to nearby property owners, and 65 cattle were recovered and trucked out by a financier.
"Investigators searched a rubbish tip on the New South Wales property, where they located and seized numerous exhibits relating to the cattle fraud investigation," Detective Sergeant Bennett Nolan said.
Police said no charges had been laid but the rural crime prevention team is continuing investigations.
"The Rural Crime Prevention Team is committed to disrupting those who continually prey on our rural communities," State Rural Crime Coordinator, Detective Inspector Cameron Whiteside said.
"This is an example of bringing Rural Crime Investigators together across state boundaries. Criminals need to know that our capability to respond to these crimes is forever increasing and they need to change their ways or face the courts."
This article first appeared in the Northern Daily Leader