A team of revenue officials raided a farm in Razzaqabad near the National Highway on Wednesday evening and recovered around 3,000 of the Australian sheep, which the provincial authorities claimed were infected with the scabby mouth disease.

It is located near the cattle farm where the rest of the sheep are being kept.

“The revenue officials recovered these sheep from a farm measuring around 1,200 square yards,” said Malir District Deputy Commissioner Qazi Jan Mohammad.

“I cannot say at the moment whether or not the sheep were kept there to hide them from government officials.”

The counting of the recovered sheep was under way at the time this report was filed. However, the officials believed they could be around 3,000 in number.

“The recovered animals will be examined by the board of veterinary experts that will be formed on the directives of the Sindh High Court for examining the health status of the imported Australian sheep,” the deputy commissioner said.

According to reports, the veterinarians associated with the Sindh Livestock Department found five Australian sheep dead at the farm with blood oozing out of their mouths.

The veterinarians said blood samples would be collected from the dead sheep in order to detect the nature of their disease and the cause of death.