KARACHI: Four armed suspects riding motorcycles snatched a rickshaw along with three sacrificial rams from a citizen near Ayesha Manzil in Karachi, police said on Friday.
A video shows the affected citizen, identified as Rashid, visibly distressed and in tears after the incident.
According to the First Information Report (FIR) registered at Azizabad Police Station, Rashid was returning home to FC Area at night after failing to sell the animals when he was intercepted by the suspects.
The FIR states that the assailants, riding in pairs on two motorcycles, stopped Rashid near Ayesha Manzil and forcibly took the rickshaw and animals at gunpoint before fleeing the scene.
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 when demand for sacrificial animals surges.
Armed robbers intercepted a truck in Karachi’s Liaquatabad earlier this month and fled with sacrificial animals worth over Rs600,000.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.