Jabal is home.
The three month old white kitten was dropped off at a local police precinct on Tuesday by a woman who called the day before to say she would return him and that it had been a misunderstanding.
Imad Innab, who owns the Eight Street Mini Mart, got the call he had been waiting for all week.
How It Ended
Innab said the moment staff walked into the store with Jabal, he broke down.
“I was crying tears of joy when I saw them walk in with him,” he said.
By Tuesday evening Jabal was running around the store nonstop.
No arrests have been made. Innab said he does not care. “There were no arrests as far as I know or even care,” he told reporters. “I just wanted Jabal home.”
The Detail That Makes This Worse in Hindsight
Jabal had a collar on the day he was taken. He did not have a microchip.
He was scheduled to be microchipped that same day.
If the chip had been in place before the couple walked off with him, identifying his location would have been a different conversation entirely. Instead, his return depended entirely on a woman deciding to bring him back.
That is not a system. That is luck.
If you missed how the catnapping unfolded and how the neighborhood responded, the full story is here.
What a Week of Looking Like
Within hours of the theft, Park Slope residents had printed flyers, posted on Reddit and pushed the story across social media.
National outlets picked it up. Neighbors who had never spoken to Innab were stopping in to ask about Jabal by name.
A neighbor put it plainly to NBC New York: “Clearly he’s become symbolic of something much larger. And the community did rally because it seemed such an unnecessary event.”
Innab has run the Eight Street Mini Mart for 39 years. This was his neighborhood looking after one of its own.
Why This Matters
The story put a spotlight on something that had already been sitting in a city council committee since late 2025.
Councilmember Keith Powers introduced a bill that would legally protect shop cats in New York City, offer free vaccinations and spay neuter services, and bring them into a formal system. It is called Intro 1471, and it is still waiting.
Jabal’s case made the argument better than any hearing could. A cat with no legal status, no chip, and no owner of record on paper is almost impossible to recover through any formal route.
Innab got him back because someone had a change of heart. That will not always be the outcome.
There is a broader lesson here too. Cats who are fostered, chipped and documented before going to a permanent home are in a very different position if something goes wrong. Here is what that process actually involves.
Back Behind the Counter
Jabal replaced Victoria, who worked the bodega for 17 years before dying of cancer earlier this year.
Innab named the kitten after his daughter. In Arabic, Jabal means mountain.
Victoria lasted 17 years. Jabal made it one month before the neighborhood nearly lost him too.
He is back now. Running around the store nonstop, according to his owner.
Does your corner shop have a cat, and do you know what would happen if it went missing? Drop it in the comments below.
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Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. Details of this developing story may change. No arrests have been confirmed at time of publication.