Barcode thwarts theft of goats at Mumbai’s Deonar market

Moreover, four goats – whose owners are yet to be identified – have currently been kept in civic custody.

Thanks to a first-time initiative by the civic body and local police, to use barcode identifiers for goats at the Deonar market ahead of Bakri Eid, as many as six cases of goat stealing were detected this month.

Thanks to a first-time initiative by the civic body and local police, to use barcode identifiers for goats at the Deonar market ahead of Bakri Eid, as many as six cases of goat stealing were detected this month. (Gurpreet Singh/HT)

Moreover, four goats – whose owners are yet to be identified – have currently been kept in civic custody.

In accordance with the new system introduced by authorities this year, all goat sellers were given barcode slips after counting the number of goats they had.

“Each time a purchase was made, the seller handed the slip to the purchaser. This slip was then scanned before the purchaser took the goat out of the market,” said Vishwapal B Bhujbal, assistant commissioner of police, Deonar division.

“Between August 1 and 14, six accused tried to steal the goats and flee, taking advantage of the crowd. However, they were caught during the screening at the market exit. Some even tried to get away using duplicate barcodes but were caught,” Bhujbal added.

Every year, Deonar police reports around 20 such cases, of which only three-four are detected.

The market at Deonar is touted as the largest goat market in the country.

This year, around 2.25 lakh goats were sold at the market. According to police, each goat fetches a sum of ₹15,000- ₹35,000.

The Mumbai police this year initiated preventive detention of history-sheeters after taking the court’s permission.

Fourteen such thieves were kept under custody this year. Police even stepped up surveillance with increased patrolling and use of CCTV cameras.

“We used technology over human intervention this year,” said Lakhmi Gautam, additional commissioner of police, east region.