Motorway police officer did not steal a livestock owner’s goat, seized it as a warning

On April 28, 2024, a video circulated on social media platform X showing a motorway police officer carrying away a goat with the claim that he was stealing it. However, the goat was only seized as a warning to the owner since it had crossed the fence and strayed close to the road.

Claim

Motorway policeman stealing a goat caught on camera

Rating Justification

The iVerify Pakistan team has checked this content and established that it is false.

To arrive at this verdict, the iVerify Pakistan team investigated the viral video and the responses of officials on the matter.

HOW IT STARTED

On April 28, 2024, a PTI supporter posted a video on social media platform X, showing a motorway policeman carrying away a goat.

The caption said: “Watch full video: Motorway policeman stole a goat of a disabled man.”

The post gained over 115,800 views and 3,300 reshares.

The same video with the caption was reshared by other internet users here, here, and here with a viewer count of 19,000,18,300, and 14,000 users respectively.

METHODOLOGY

The iVerify Pakistan team initiated an investigation into the claim due to its virality and to determine if the incident depicted actually happened or not since it involved a criminal allegation against a police official.

To verify the claim, the team conducted a keyword search for “motorway policeman stealing goat”, and it yielded an April 30, 2024, interview of an official of the National Highways and Motorway Police (NHMP) on the YouTube account of Suno News with the title, “Motorway police Really Goat Thieves? | Truth of Viral Video Came out”.

NHMP public relations officer (PRO) Yasir Mehmood said motorways were fenced to prevent any crossing or trespassing by humans or animals and any resultant accident.

He said that livestock owners semi-frequently cut the fences so their animals could graze the grass, adding that they did not realise that their animals could wander off to the road at any time and cause an accident and loss of life.

“This was the only reason why our officer” took the goat away, the PRO said, adding that the officer’s aim was different to what was being spread online.

The PRO said the goat was taken away to serve as a warning to the owner and was later returned.

The team also checked the official X account of the NHMP and found an April 28 post of a statement on the entire matter.

The statement is reproduced below:

“During patrolling, the NHMP officers noticed some livestock on the side of the road which had crossed the security fence and came very close to the road. The said animals could have come on the road at any time and could have caused a fatal accident.

“The owner of the goats was repeatedly prohibited from crossing the security fence to graze his livestock, but the owner of the goats did not desist from this practice. This act of the said person was very dangerous and could lead to loss of precious human lives. The said man’s goat was taken into custody by the NHMP officer and brought to the office for further legal action.

“Later, the owner of the goat came to the office and admitted his mistake and promised not to do such a thing again whereupon the NHMP officers handed over his goat to him.”