Residents of Taifa, a suburb of Ashaiman, yesterday caught a suspected fowl thief who had concealed his booty in his underwear.

The suspect, who gave his name only as Joe but known to his friends as Big Joe, was said to have cut through the net of some­one's hencoop and made off with two hens, with one hidden in his underwear while the other was hidden in his shirt.

A resident, who report­edly spotted the 26-year- old thief that morning at about 6:30am, warned the suspect to let the fowls go but he allegedly refused and started moving away

The resident, on realising that the suspect might escape with the fowls, quickly raised an alarm which attracted some people to the scene. The sus­pect immediately took to his heels upon seeing the crowd.

He was pursued by the angry crowd to Christian Village, a neighbouring community, where he was caught after abandoning the fowls in the middle of the chase.

Interestingly, he reportedly run into the Global Revival Ministry »International, a church at Christian Village, and knelt in front of the pulpit, " perhaps to seek for forgiveness or say his last prayers before his pursuers grab him!

The crowd, upon reaching the church reportedly waited for a while for him to complete whatever he was doing before they apprehended him.

He was subjected to severe beatings from the church to the area he stole the birds, where some residents also took advantage to unleash their anger on him with sticks and stones.

It took the timely intervention of a man to save him from being beat­en to death. He was subsequently released to go after the severe beatings meted out to him.