Beloved NYC bodega cat stolen from store as kitty’s fans have their claws out for the petnappers
A beloved bodega cat was snatched from his Brooklyn home by a pair of heartless thieves — prompting neighbors to spring into action to track him down, and his distraught owner to offering hundreds of dollars for the adorable kitten’s return.
“I think the whole neighborhood is talking about it,” said one of the many Park Slope residents lamenting the loss of Jabal, a 3-month-old kitten snatched from the 8th St. Mini Mart in Park Slope Thursday.
Jabal’s owner, Imad Innab, was setting up shop around 7 a.m., when the white cat with yellow eyes briefly slipped out the front door to explore the city sidewalk.
But after a while Innab noticed he hadn’t seen Jabal around, and when he checked outside the cat was nowhere to be found.
A look through security footage quickly revealed a culprit — around 7:18 a.m., a man and a woman had scooped up Jabal and made off with the cat.
That prompted a group of local customers — many of whom looked forward to visits with Jabal during their daily deli run — to take to the streets in search of the kitty, with one even managing to track down the catnappers carrying Jabal in Prospect Park.
“He saw them and he talked to them, and he says ‘You stole the cat, you stole the cat, the cat belonged to the store. It’s not a stray cat,’” Innab told The Post.
But it was no-good — the couple stuffed Jabal into their bag and took off.
“The lady took the cat in her book bag and went to different direction and the man did the same thing,” Innab said. “He went to the other direction and the [customer] was following them too. In the meantime, I was calling the police.”
Despite identifying the culprits, Innab decided not to press charges — but did plaster their photos on flyers across town offering a $500 “No questions asked” reward.
“Just give it back you know? He was living his life here,” Innab said, lamenting the catnappers’ intentions. “These people, they have it for like a couple of hours or something, and then just put in the street. Because they can’t even feed themselves.”
Jabal’s taking struck a particular chord for Innab — his old cat, Victoria, had ruled the roost at 8th St. Mini Mart for 17 years until she died three months ago. Jabal was the new addition to the family to take Victoria’s beloved place.
“This was a nice home for it,” said Innab’s son, 27-year-old Moe. “He’d be on my dad’s lap all the time, and I was excited to see it every time I came. My sisters named it. So it hits home.”
But now Jabal’s favorite perch — a cardboard couch in the deli — sits empty while he’s lost in the big city.
