KARACHI, Nov 20: Despite the establishment of an independent cell in the police department to curb the menace of car and motorcycle hijacking in the city, 25 vehicles a day on an average were hijacked/stolen in October in the city.
Bandits stepped up their activities since the beginning of the holy month of Ramazan. Only in four days - from Nov 17 to 20 - 127 vehicles were hijacked/ stolen, an average of more than 31 vehicles a day.
The Anti-car Lifting Cell was being neglected since its inception as it had been set up to show the performance of police. The Cell had not been provided with its full sanctioned strength and equipment. It was also facing a shortage of mobile vans. On the other hand, the Toyota Corolla cars, inducted recently into the fleet of the police department, were being distributed among high- ranking officials, who had a say in the department, well-placed sources in police said.
According to the statistics compiled by the ACLC, in October 777 vehicles - 234 cars and 543 motorcycles - were hijacked/stolen in the city. 122 cars were hijacked and 112 stolen in October. However, the poor motorcycle-owners remained the favourite target of motorcycle hijackers and thieves as in October 234 motorcycles were hijacked and 309 stolen.
In the first 17 days of November, 469 vehicles - 160 cars and 309 motorcycles - were hijacked/stolen, the police’s data shows.
Statistics show that 329 cars were hijacked/stolen in January, 310 in February, 289 in March, 343 in April, 340 in May, 340 in June, 257 in July, 209 in August, and 250 in September. 513 motorcycles were hijacked/stolen in January, 446 in February, 317 in March, 471 in April, 463 in May, 464 in June, 489 in July, 455 in August and 515 in September.
On the other hand, police claimed to have detected 462 cases and arrested 514 suspected car hijackers in the 10 months of this year. Police claimed that they detected 33 cases in November this year and arrested 50 suspected car hijackers. 204 suspects on a charge of car hijacking and 117 on a charge of motorcycle hijacking apprehended red-handed were among those arrested.
The ACLC also claimed to have recovered 1,570 cars out of the total 3,061 cars hijacked/stolen this year. They also claimed to have recovered 1,521 motorcycles out of the total 4,985 motorcycles hijacked/stolen. The recovery rate for cars stood at 51.29 per cent and for motorcycles at 30.51pc. The statistics show that the recovery rate in respect of cars was high, though the car hijacking cases was fewer. On the other hand, incidents of hijacking/theft of motorcycles reached an alarmingly high level, and the recovery rate was also disappointing.
The sources said police officials with unsatisfactory performance were deputed in the ACLC. The intermittent transfers and postings of officials in the Cell was also one of the factors for the ill-equipped Cell’s poor performances. The Cell chief had devised a number of effective strategies, but all of them had failed due to the shortage of personnel, absence of coordination by the district police, and the lack of interest by the police hierarchy, the sources said.
