November 07, 2006	Tuesday	Shawwal 14, 1427

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LAHORE, Nov 6: There has been an increase in robbery-cum-murder incidents in the city in the first 10 months of 2006 as compared to the corresponding period last year. An increase of seven per cent in murder and 50 per cent in injury during robberies has been recorded in the period under review. Though the operations and investigation police wings claim to have arrested seven per cent more outlaws this year in the period but there seems to be no let up in street crime.

According to the official data, 31 people were killed and 110 injured during robberies in the first 10 months of the year while 29 were killed and 94 injured in the same period of the last year.

The police also claim to have recovered stolen goods worth Rs430 million in the period as compared to Rs385 million last year.

The police registered 964 cases and arrested 1,349 members of 341 gangs by Oct 2006. It had registered 892 cases and nabbed 1,270 members of 272 gangs last year.

Eight robbers were killed and 17 injured while five policemen were killed and 24 injured in 24 encounters in 2006.

In 2005, nine robbers were killed and 13 injured while six policemen were killed and 19 injured in 20 encounters.

As incidents of violence (murder, injury) during robberies increased from 24 in the first nine months of 2005 to 26 in the same period of the current year, it also saw an increase in Oct 2006 as compared to the corresponding month of 2005.

Robbers killed five people and injured 13, including a child, in Oct 2006 while three people were murdered and six injured in the corresponding month of the last year.

However the police killed one robber and managed to capture seven in three encounters in Oct 2006 while in Oct 2005, they killed one robber and arrested two in two encounters.

In October 2006, the police claimed to have arrested at least 127 members of 28 gangs while in the same month of corresponding year, they nabbed 72 members of 20 gangs, showing an increase of 45 per cent.

A spokesman for the capital city police chief said the police had taken concrete steps to overcome the street crime.

He said the whole city had been divided into two patrolling sectors led by one SP each while sub-sectors by the SHOs and additional SHOs for round the clock patrolling.

The sector 1 comprises areas of Cantonment, Civil Lines, Mughalpura, Kot Lakhpat and Model Town while sector 2 includes City, Ravi, Saddar and Iqbal Town.

“This step will reduce the frequency of occurrences in each sector as well as sub-sectors with major focus on crime-prone pockets,” he added.

He said the police had launched a month-long crackdown against criminals from Oct 30 to monitor their activities on daily basis after acquittal on bail or completion of punishment.

“The city police chief has issued a directive to all divisional SPs to bound all police stations to maintain record of such criminals on daily basis and submit it to them besides sending each copy to him on daily basis,” the spokesman said.

He said the criminals involved in suspected activities even after their release would be taken into custody again and would be handed over to the CIA.