Mumbai, Sep 26 (TNN): A man who used to go around in a car stealing goats in South Mumbai was nabbed on Monday. Satrunjay Waghmare, a housebreaker who turned to stealing goats a year ago, was caught on Monday at Antop Hill, where he had gone to sell the animals.

Many residents of Agripada, Pydhonie, Dongri, Null Bazaar, JJ Marg and Mohammed Ali Road own goats. An officer said that of late, police stations in these areas would receive complaints of goat theft every week. "Around 200 goats were stolen in south Mumbai in the last five months. We believe the actual figure to be more as not all the thefts might have been reported."

Last week, the police received information that a known housebreaker had started a cattle business and had earned enough to be able to afford a car. "We initially thought that he had reformed. We felt good for him. Yet we kept tabs on him. On Monday, we stopped him and checked his car. Imagine how surprised we were to find two goats in the boot," said inspector Vinayak Vast. "Upon grilling, he told us he had stolen them the previous night from Null Bazaar and was trying to sell them."

Waghmare told the police that he had two associates who during daytime would identify places where goats were tied. Such places would typically be ground floors or backyards of buildings. At night, the three thieves would go to work with knives and metal cutters, and cut the ropes and chains with which the animals were tied to posts.

The rescued goats belonged to Null Bazaar resident Salim Qureshi, who had registered an FIR at the JJ Marg police station about the theft. "I bought them two years ago and was taking care of them like they were my own children. Last week I went to sleep after tying them with an iron chain outside my shop at 3am. When I woke up, they were not there," Qureshi said. "The thieves did not feed them properly. My goats have become weak."