Armed robbers intercepted a truck in Karachi’s Liaquatabad on Tuesday and fled with sacrificial animals worth over Rs600,000, highlighting a rise in crime ahead of Eid-ul-Adha, The News reported.
Police said the animals had been purchased from Bhains Colony and were being taken to Orangi Town when the truck was stopped by armed men in a car. The suspects held the driver at gunpoint, forced him out of the vehicle, and drove off with the truck.
CCTV footage has emerged showing the robbery in progress. According to the FIR, the driver was placed in the suspects’ car during the heist and drove off with the truck loaded with animals.
A short distance later, the robbers released the driver and the empty truck was later found abandoned near Nipa Chowrangi in Gulshan-e- Iqbal. Police say there is still no trace of the animals.
Eid-ul-Adha, marked by the ritual sacrifice of livestock, often sees a spike in such crimes as traders and buyers transport valuable animals through densely populated areas.
Similar robberies have occurred in Karachi and Lahore in the lead-up to Eid-ul-Adha, when demand for sacrificial animals surges.
In June 2024, a truck carrying 30 sacrificial goats was hijacked near Kamran Chowrangi in Gulistan-e-Johar, Karachi. Four armed men on a motorcycle dragged the driver out at gunpoint and fled with the truck, which was transporting goats from Hyderabad.
In Lahore, two separate incidents were reported in Samanabad and Nishtar Colony, where robbers snatched goats from citizens. In one case, police arrested one of the culprits while the other escaped.
In 2023, unidentified thieves stole more than a dozen valuable sacrificial animals from a cattle farm located near the Super Highway in the Malir Cantonment area.
More than a dozen animals were stolen from the Muhammadi Cattle Farm, in the vicinity of the Wadi-e-Hussain Graveyard, falling under the jurisdiction of the Malir Cantonment police station.
According to Malik Shahroze, the owner of the cattle farm, 10 to 12 armed men barged onto his farm early in the morning and attacked a security guard and the watchman.
The suspects took the fodder employee hostage at gunpoint and stole the precious sacrificial animals, then made their escape in a pickup truck. The farm’s owner said the stolen animals were worth Rs10 million to Rs15 million, adding that the suspects had beaten his employees after tying them up with ropes.
In June of the same year, a group of unidentified armed men stole three bulls from a plot in the North Karachi area. The gang barged onto the plot and held the watchman hostage at gunpoint. They then escaped with the three sacrificial bulls worth more than Rs700,000.
