KARACHI, June 29: Bandits took away 106 mobile phone sets and 18 vehicles, including nine motorcycles and nine four-wheelers, in different parts of the city on Wednesday. Earlier on Monday, a total of 41 vehicles —20 cars and 21 motorcycles-– were snatched or stolen in various localities. Tuesday was no more different as armed suspects took away 39 vehicles, including 14 cars and 25 motorbikes, in separate incidents. The figures show that a total of 98 vehicles had been taken away in three days.

According to complaints lodged at Madadgar 15, only in the current month of June, as many as 2,701 people have been deprived of their mobile phone sets in the city. Only during the last month, 3,435 people lost their cell phones at the hands of bandits. From January to April this year, 3,456 people were robbed of their mobile phone sets.

Police sources said that 9,592 people had been robbed of their cellular phones from January to June this year, which showed that 54 cell phones were being snatched or stolen every day. The figures are related only to the robbery of mobile phone sets while the people do not generally report to the police about snatching or stealing of their cash and belongings.

Though anti-robbery and anti-dacoity cells had been established by the police in all the towns to curb the menace of street crime and motorcycle squads had been deployed to keep a strict vigil on criminal elements on streets, the police miserably failed to put an effective check on street crimes.