PESHAWAR, July 3: Residents of the Nowshera district’s Cherat locality have expressed concerns over the theft of sheep from their area and have urged the government to take action against a group of Afghans.

They said that during the last two months, 60 sheep had been stolen from the locality. Most owners of the stolen animals were poor farmers.

They said the price of one sheep was about Rs7,000, which was a huge amount for any poor man.

The residents said a group of Afghans regularly came to the area and took away sheep in their vehicles. Police had arrested some people in this regard but freed them without taking any legal action against them.

They said the Afghans had also kidnapped a man who was released after negotiations by a local jirga with the kidnappers. They blamed the Afghan refugees living in nearby camps for the hike in crimes.

An official of the Pabbi police said they had arrested some Afghans two months ago for stealing two sheep. He urged the residents to report such incidents to police so that action could be taken against them.