Three men accused of $250,000 Kimberley cattle rustling

Three men accused of taking 306 cattle worth more than $250,000 and mustering them across a state border have been charged with stealing.

The livestock theft at Louisa Downs in a remote part of the Kimberley region was reported to authorities in October 2022.

Officers say the trio mustered the cattle by truck over the border to the Northern Territory.

They also allege earth moving machinery was used to create a road between the Louisa Downs Pastoral Aboriginal Corporation station to the nearby Mount Pierre Pastoral Aboriginal Corporation station, where portable cattle yards were set up.

Two helicopters and a ground crew on bull catching buggies were involved in the unauthorised muster over 12 days in October 2022, police say.

In January 2024, officers discovered some of the cattle had been sold and exported following a search at a property along the Adelaide River in the Northern Territory.

The cattle were worth more than $253,000 at the time and officers say part of the proceeds were deposited into bank accounts belonging to the accused men over several months.

The two men from Fitzroy Crossing, 41 and 39, and a 42-year-old from the Northern Territory, 42, were charged with stealing in April.

The Western Australians will face court on Tuesday while the other man will face court in July.