KARACHI: If you are caught by armed robbers in the middle of a road in Karachi, and one of them points a gun at you or your family member’s head, you have no choice but to surrender your valuables to them.
This was the account of Ubaid Narejo who was robbed along with his family in Korangi recently by four armed robbers. The family lost mobile phones, laptops, jewellery and cash at gunpoint.
Narejo said he was on his way from Gulshan-e-Hadeed to Clifton in the morning with his kids and wife. He had to drop his children off at a school in Korangi. As soon as he reached near Nasir Jump, four armed robbers riding on two separate motorcycles tried to intercept his car.
“My driver, however, sensed foul play and sped the car away. As he accelerated the speed of the car, robbers the fired three bullets but luckily we all remained safe. However, the robbers again intercepted us near the school where there was a crowd and our car got stuck in the traffic,” he said.
“The armed robbers deprived us of our mobile phones, my wife’s jewellery, kids’ laptops, and cash. There were school guards but no one noticed or came to our help,” he added.
Another victim Salman works as a labourer. He was on his motorcycle when armed robbers intercepted him on a street behind the Defence police station. He was robbed of Rs5,000 cash, mobile phone and all his belongings including his credentials.
“I went to my contractor (thekaydaar) to get Rs5,000 as I have to pay my utility bills. It was around 8.30pm when I left the place of my contractor. I was just on a street behind the Defence police station where armed robbers intercepted me and deprived me of cash and belongings. The money mattered to me a lot. Now I am afraid of disconnections of utility services at my home,” Salman regretted.
Too many victims
Narejo and Salman are not the only victims in the city. Almost each and every day such sort of incidents take place on the streets of Karachi. The city police seem to be helpless at times at the hands of criminals.
According to the data compiled by the Citizens-Police Liaison Committee (CPLC), 78,123 cases of street crimes were reported in 2021. These cases included mobile phone snatching and the snatching and theft incidents of four and two wheelers.
The statistics tell us that nine persons are deprived of either their cars, motorbikes, mobile phones, cash or belongings on the streets of Karachi every hour at the hands of armed robbers.
Mobile phone snatching
Last year, 25,188 people had to surrender their mobile phones at gunpoint to armed robbers, which means three people lost their mobile phones every hour.
If an average value of a mobile phone is supposed to be Rs25,000, then it is estimated that mobile phones worth Rs630 million were snatched at gunpoint from the citizens of the metropolis during 2021. These are the reported cases; unreported cases may be far beyond these numbers.
SSP Central Malik Murtaza Tabbassum told Bol News that there was a surge in the incidents of street crime but now with the strict measures taken by the police, such incidents have “decreased”.
“We have raided places in a bid to eliminate the selling of snatched or stolen phones. The locked numbers can be unlocked by experts so we are getting those as well who are involved in unlocking phones illegally,” the SSP said.
Traders in the mobile markets say the police checks on the markets have turned very strict so there was no chance of illegal business of mobile phones in established markets now because everyone wanted to run his business to make both ends meet. “Most of the stolen mobile phones are being smuggled out to Afghanistan,” SSP Malik Murtaza stated. Asked if the stolen mobile phones are being smuggled to Central Asian countries as well, the SSP claimed that he did not have any clue about that but the possibility could not be ruled out.
Carjacking
According to the CPLC data, 52,935 cars and motorcycles were taken away during 2021. Of them 2,094 were four wheelers and 50,841 were two wheelers.
Independent sources privy to the matter claim that the street criminals’ hotcake is motorcycle as they were easily taken away. These motorcycles are dismantled at hidden workshops established within the city neighbourhoods and parts of these stolen motorcycles are sold to spare-part shops. The stolen parts of vehicles are sold to end consumers in the name of ‘Kabuli.’ Examples of these are Kabuli carburettor, Kabuli piston etc.
Police said that most of the stolen cars were taken away to Balochistan where these were dismantled and their parts were taken to the spare-parts markets in Karachi for sale. Out of the total 2,094 vehicles taken away, 528 four wheelers were recovered. This shows that the recovery ratio of four wheelers is more than 25 per cent.
Alarming trend
In Karachi, street crimes have turned violent in recent months as five people were killed in the incidents only in the month of January 2022.
“This is a disturbing fact and we have noticed it”, SSP Murtaza regretted. “It is anticipated that a professional criminal opens fire as a last resort to save his skin. However, the present wave of violence in street crimes is alarming.”
He explained that most of those arrested in street crimes had origins in Afghanistan or in the southern belt of Punjab. “People of certain backgrounds appear to be stubborn and inclined to violence,” he observed. The officer elaborated that such criminals were not professionals and they were fearful themselves while committing street crimes.
