Cats are curious creatures and they often go missing, only to return later. So when a bodega cat from Brooklyn called Boka disappeared, owner Abdulmajeed Albahri believed he had simply wandered away. Then he checked his CCTV footage!
What he saw surprised him. A man wearing a blue baseball cap, white t-shirt and backpack appeared to be waiting outside his store, the Green Olives Deli & Grill at 309 Seventh Avenue, at Eighth Street.
As the gray cat wandered across the sidewalk, the man scooped the beloved pet in his left arm and walked off camera. Mr Albahri says it was an abduction.
The incident happened at 4.34pm on Friday, July 29 and police have been informed.
Since then, a hunt for the cat has gone viral after Mr Albahri, who adopted Boka from a friend in January, posted a video of the footage on TikTok. It's been viewed more than 149,000 times.
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@catluminati ♬ Blade Runner 2049 - Synthwave Goose
Further posts have since been made on Facebook, Instagram and Reddit in a desperate attempt to find Boka.
An Instagram account dedicated to the cat has also been set up showing many videos of Boka's antics, as well as news footage of the incident by the New York eyewitness news channel abc7NY.
So far, no arrests have been made and investigations are continuing, with hopes high that Boka will turn up or be returned.
In the meantime, Mr Albahri remains without his bodega cat. And for those unaware, this term is a New York City phrase rather than a feline breed. Bodega cats are also known as deli, store or shop cats and they're basically kitties who have adopted a store as their home.
