Luxury ride for stolen livestock in Uzbekistan By News from Elsewhere...

...as found by BBC Monitoring Published duration 2 April 2018

image copyright Bukhara police image caption One way to get two-tone leather in your Chevy

Police in Uzbekistan have apprehended two men for stealing livestock after catching them red-handed with a calf in the back of an expensive car.

Officers in Uzbekistan's Bukhara region were investigating a report from villagers who had lost a cow and a sheep, and managed to track down two suspects, the UzNews website says

In order to avoid suspicion, they had been transporting stolen sheep and cattle - even bulls - in a Chevrolet Malibu owned by one of the men, regional police said

The American brand is a popular one in Uzbekistan where parent company General Motors have a factory - so much so that in 2013, the chance to put a down payment on a car sparked a small stampede

It is easier to buy a Chevrolet these days, but a Malibu is still a luxury ride.

It is the most expensive of locally produced cars made by the country's monopolist GM Uzbekistan and costs about about 30,000 dollars - a hundred times the average monthly wage there.

The story has tickled Uzbeks reading about it on social media. "A least the cow looks happy," one Facebook user says. "Of course, it was stolen in a Malibu car, like a bride," jokes another.

image copyright Bukhara police image caption Moo-ve it: Local police have a beef with two suspects over an alleged stolen cow