LAHORE: A footage of a robbery at a traffic signal on one of the busiest roads of Faisal Town on Monday raised questions about the performance of the police with regard to their basic job -- fighting crime.

The footage of the street crime made by a motorist went viral on the social media, becoming talk of the town. The robbers riding two motorcycles deprived the family occupying a car of jewellery and cash worth over Rs400,000. It was quite shocking to see four robbers looting the family in the presence of dozens of motorists.

The criminals who came on two motorbikes were armed with weapons, and one of them was wearing helmet, an eyewitness told the police.

The footage shows the robbers holding up the car driver, later identified as Umar Jehangir, a resident of Ghalib Market, Gulberg. His mother was also accompanying him at the time of the incident.

Before they started looting the family, a witness told the police, the robbers shot at the car damaging its windscreen. They later also resorted to aerial firing to ‘terrorise’ other motorists in the queue, he said.

He said the driver immediately surrendered his mobile phone and purse, but one of the robbers demanded the jewellery Jehangir’s mother was wearing, refusing to take the other valuable.

The robbers fled away after taking away the jewellery, reportedly weighing 8-9 tola and the purse that contained some cash.

The Garden Town police later lodged a street crime case against the unidentified robbers on the complaint of Jehangir.

Interestingly, there was no mention of firing resorted to by the robbers in the FIR.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif took notice of the robbery and sought a report from the Lahore police chief -- CCPO.

The chief minister ordered immediate arrest of the robbers and ordered enhanced police patrolling to check such incidents in future.

Published in Dawn, November 22nd, 2016