KARACHI, Nov 11: Police have failed to check the incidents of car hijacking and theft of vehicles in the city as bandits took away more than 28 vehicles a day on an average in October.
A visible increase of 15.66 per cent was recorded in incidents of car hijacking and motorcycle-lifting in October as compared with September, according to the statistics compiled by the Citizen-Police Liaison Committee.
A remarkable rise was witnessed in the incidents of motorcycle-lifting in October as bandits took away 532 motorcycles as compared with 433 in September showing an increase of 18.61pc. However, 349 four-wheelers were taken away in October as compared with 310 in September.
The statistics showed that the incident of motorcycle-lifting was at its peak in October this year.
However, police have registered only 65 FIRs for car hijacking and 59 FIRs for motorcycle-lifting out of 881 such cases, as they had been reluctant to register FIR for the rest of 757 incidents for one reason or the other.
This is in spite of the fact that the IG Sindh has recently issued a standing order to police instructing them not to delay registering FIRs for car hijacking incidents.
The number of car hijacking incidents in the past 10 months of this year has crossed the number of such incidents recorded in the whole of last year, as bandits took away 8,102 vehicles — 3,496 cars and 4,606 motorcycles — in 10 months of this year as compared with 7,750 vehicles — 3,215 cars and 4,535 motorcycles — taken away in 12 months of last year.
Bandits took away 335 cars in January this year, 418 in February, 408 in March, 437 in April, 312 in May, 345 in June, 286 in July, 296 in August, 310 in September and 349 in October.
440 motorcycles were taken away in January, 450 in February, 392 in March, 446 in April, 476 in May, 492 in June, 454 in July, 491 in August, 433 in September and 532 in October.
The statistics pointed out some areas where incidents of hijacking and theft of vehicles had been higher. Bandits faced least resistance in Gulshan-i-Iqbal as they hijacked 19 cars there.
The second highest number of incidents of car hijacking was recorded in Ferozabad. Gulshan-i-Iqbal remained No 1 in terms of car theft as 24 cars were stolen there. In this respect too Ferozabad occupied the second place where 14 cars were stolen.
The Korangi police limits fared as the worst for motorcycle-owners in October as 20 motorcyclists were deprived of their vehicles at gunpoint there. The second worst area was Joharabad in Federal B-Area, where bandits hijacked 10 motorcycles. Motorcycle thieves found the going good in Kharadar where they took away 24 motorcycles in October.
Preedy and Artillery Maidan police limits were followed by Kharadar, where bandits took away 19 motorcycles each.
The statistics showed that 172 Suzuki cars, 77 Toyota, 18 Honda, seven Charade, six Toyota Hilux, 19 taxis and 50 other cars were taken away by bandits in October.
Honda was the favourite of bandits as they took away 458 Honda motorcycles, 43 Yamaha, three Suzuki, eight Kawasaki, seven Vespa and 13 others.
