KARACHI, Feb 2: One hundred and twenty-five vehicles - 38 cars and 87 motorcycles - were either hijacked or stolen in the past one week in the city, the police said.

According to figures issued by the Central Police Office (CPO) on a daily basis, 18 cars were hijacked and 20 others were stolen in the past week.

Forty-two motorcycles were hijacked and 45 others were stolen.

These figures were of those incidents for which FIRs have been registered.

The sources said the daily figures went as high as 23-32 vehicles a day, but, the sources claimed, the police avoided registering cases in an attempt to show a decline in the crime rate on papers. If a stolen vehicle was found abandoned, the sources claimed, usually no case was registered, so the incident was not included in the crime figure, although it did happen.

The figures provided by the CPO show that 11 vehicles were hijacked/stolen on Monday last, 20 on Tuesday, 15 on Wednesday, 19 on Thursday, 20 on Friday, 21 on Saturday and 19 on Sunday.

Most of the cars were hijacked/stolen in Darkhshan, Clifton and Rizvia. The cars were also hijacked/stolen in Clifton, Buffer Zone, Al-Falah, Azizabad, PIB Colony, Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Soldier Bazaar, North Nazimabad, Mominabad, New Karachi, Ferozabad, Gizri and New Town.

The motorcycles were hijacked/stolen in many areas, including Azizabad, Gulberg, Buffer Zone, North Nazimabad, Nazimabad, New Karachi, Clifton, Ferozabad, Mominabad, Al-Falah, Aram Bagh, Kharadar, Saeedabad, Orangi Town, Gulbahar, Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Korangi, Soldier Bazaar, Garden, Mithadar and other areas.

The figures show that the incidents of car hijacking and motorcycle-lifting were no fewer than 19 a day in the five days of the previous week. Most of the vehicles which were hijacked/stolen were motorcycles - a means of conveyance for the middle-class and low-salaried class.

The police have controlled car hijacking to an extent.

The recovery rate of motorcycles is far lower than that of cars. The police’s statistics show the recovery of 54 vehicles - 25 cars and 29 motorcycles.