ISLAMABAD: There were 99 incidents of crime against property in the capital during September, police said, resulting in the theft of more than Rs69 million worth of cash and valuables.

They added that this crime consisted of 12 separate kinds of crime against property, such as robberies, burglaries, thefts, vehicle thefts and street crime.

Censored details were released for the media by the police’s public relations office, which revealed that at least 99 robberies, burglaries, thefts and other crimes against property took place last month.

They also revealed that the details of 84 FIRs have been kept hidden from the press.

When asked why the details of these 84 reports were not shared with the press, an official from the police public relations office speaking on the condition of anonymity said that “seniors were asked to do so”.

The details show that 28 four-wheel vehicles worth Rs44.4 million and 19 motorcycles worth Rs1.2m were stolen.

There were 52 burglaries, armed robberies, street crimes and thefts of various kinds reported in which Rs24.28m worth of cash and valuables were stolen.

There were also three incidents of rape and one incident each of kidnapping or abducting in order to murder, kidnapping or abducting a person under the age of 14, and kidnapping or abducting for extorting property.

In addition, 14 incidents of kidnapping or abducting with intent secretly and wrongfully to confine person, 12 incidents of kidnapping, abducting or inducing a woman to compel for marriage and three incidents each of unnatural offences and enticing or taking away or detaining with criminal intent a woman were also reported in September.

There were 12 murders and 22 attempted murders, the details showed.

When asked why the complete details of all the FIRs registered with the police were not shared with the media, senior police officers said on condition of anonymity that censored details of crimes are shared with the media.

They said this practice is used to tamper with actual crime figures to show a false decrease in criminal activity or improved police performance.

When asked about the crime situation in Islamabad and why complete details were not provided, the IGP’s public relations officer Zia Bajwa responded with a message detailing arrests of suspects and recoveries.

According to the details he provided, the police arrested 1,030 suspects in connection with 927 robberies, burglaries and vehicle thefts between Jan 1 and Aug 30 this year.

He said the police recovered Rs751.9m worth of valuables this year.

Published in Dawn, October 8th, 2020