The Brown’s Town Police on Wednesday nabbed the son of a well-known butcher from Salem in St Ann with three female goats in the trunk of a Honda civic motor car.

He has been identified as Keith Morris and goes by the name of ‘Yellow’.

The area has been the target of goat thieves for some time and scores of residents converged on the Brown’s Town Police Station to see Morris – some only curious, but others wanted to do him harm.

An irate resident, who claims to have been a victim, angry at being denied the opportunity to lash out at Morris, accused the police of being ‘too decent’.

According to the police, four constables were on a routine spot check when they stopped the car with two men aboard, one of whom was Morris.

“We requested the vehicle papers and driver’s licence,” said Special Constable Kevin Miller, one of the four cops. “The driver did not have any documents for the car neither did he possess a driver’s licence.”

It was during the subsequent search of the vehicle that the three goats were found in the car trunk, the police said.

“The driver was then asked for a receipt for the goats. He told us that he bought them somewhere in the country,” said Miller.

The two attempted to flee the scene in the car when told they would be questioned further at the police station, said the constable, but the police caught up with the vehicle after a chase through the town.

Morris was held but the other man managed to elude the police.

The residents helped to push the car with the goats still inside to the police station.

Morris has since been charged with unlawful possession of property.

The police meantime say praedial larceny is a big problem in Brown’s Town and surrounding communities, and even the police themselves have been victims of the animal thieves.

Said traffic cop Constable Ray Brooks: “Dem thief four of my goats, even one that just gave birth. Mi try feed them (the kids) with nipple bottle but they eventually died.”