Karachi: Five-member gang of donkey thieves busted

[Naveed Yaseen]

Donkey mafia busted
By M. Waqar Bhatti
The Model Colony police claimed on Monday to have busted a five-member gang of donkey thieves who stole donkeys from Karachi and sold them in the interior of Sindh.

The investigating officer (IO) for the case said that they had received numerous complaints from people who claimed that their donkeys were stolen by unidentified thieves. “When we seriously investigated the crime, we learnt that several FIRs regarding donkey theft had been registered at various police stations in Malir, Korangi and even Lyari,” Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Nasar Hayat of the Model Colony police station said.

On Sunday, a police patrol saw some people running near Malir Halt, he said. The police gave chase and learnt after catching them that the men were making off with a donkey which was owned by a handicapped person.

The police arrested all five culprits and took them away for interrogations. The men confessed to stealing over 150 donkeys from various parts of the city. “Their leader is Veryal alias Dada, who used to steal donkeys from Karachi, and sell them in the interior of Sindh,” ASI Hayat said, adding that the other members of the gang had been identified as Riaz, Sabir Jan, Hidayatullah and Muhammad Amin.

During interrogation, however, all five men initially said that they only “dealt in donkeys” and never tried to steal animals. ASI Hayat added that the thieves had “never harmed anybody”. “They used to steal donkeys in a way that involved little violence,” he said, adding that the men were only booked under Section 379 (stealing) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).

Meanwhile, some people from Malir Halt claimed that they had in fact caught the donkey thieves themselves and handed them over to some policemen who came over when they saw a crowd.

Model Colony Station House Officer (SHO), Abid Hussain, also confirmed that residents of the area had caught five thieves who were running away with a donkey. The people had then handed the men over to a patrolling party of the Model Colony police station.

SHO Hussain said that the donkey thieves used to earn a handsome amount of money, because the prices of donkeys range from Rs15,000 to Rs100,000. The men had confessed to stealing more than 100 donkeys.

He said that the police had registered a case against all five accused under Section 379 of the CrPC; under the law, they can get a maximum of three years’ rigorous imprisonment.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=207712