KARACHI, Sept 21: Carjackings went up by 23 per cent in August as compared to July.

According of official figures, 941 vehicles were taken away in August as compared to 724 in July, showing an increase of 217 vehicles.

Official sources attributed the rise in carjackings to the small strength of officials at the Anti-Car Lifting Cell, lack of coordination between ACLC officials and the district police and heavy deployment of operational force on security duty on the arrival of the president and prime minister in the metropolis.

Figures show that in August 411 cars were taken away by bandits as compared to 297 in July, marking an increase of 27.74 per cent. Bandits hijacked 193 cars in August whereas 169 cars were taken away at gunpoint in July. Likewise, 218 cars were stolen in August as compared to 128 cars in July.

In August, 530 motorcycles were either hijacked or stolen as compared to 427 in July, marking an increase of 19.44 per cent.

The figures show that 273 cars were taken away in January this year, 160 in February, 225 in March, 306 in April, 319 in May, 303 in June, 297 in July and 411 in August. During the current year, August marked the highest incidents of carjacking.

As far as motorcycles are concerned, the figures show that 552 motorbikes were either hijacked or stolen in January, 385 in February, 426 in March, 446 in April, 466 in May, 438 in June, 427 in July and 530 in August. The month of January marked the highest number of incidents of motorcycle lifting, that is 552, followed by August with 530 incidents.

The figures show that the police recovered 242 cars in August and 190 in July. However, the recovery ratio was 63.97 per cent in July which decreased to 58.88 per cent in August.

Similarly, in the month of August the police recovered 190 motorbikes as compared to 175 in July but the recovery ratio remained less in August as compared to July. The police recovered 40.98 per cent motorcycles in July and 35.85 per cent in August.

The most vulnerable towns as far as carjackings were concerned were Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Clifton, North Nazimabad, Jamshed Quarters and Gulberg. Similarly the most volatile towns where the highest number of motorcycle lifting incidents were reported remained Saddar, Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Gulberg, North Nazimabad and Liaquatabad.

Officials stressed the need for eliminating the existing market of stolen vehicles and their spare parts, provision of secret code by manufacturers to decipher engine and chassis numbers in case these identification marks were deformed beyond recognition, establishing specialized units in police all over the country to deal with organized crime, a close liaison between law-enforcement agencies across the country, and setting up of a national motor registration authority.

They proposed that a check on auto repair workshops and spare parts shops, adding that their sale and purchase should be regulated so that they could not buy and sell parts of stolen vehicles.

They pointed out that vehicle theft investigation was a specialized job. Police officials deputed to work on vehicle theft investigation cases should be trained to deal with such investigation.