ISLAMABAD: Two more cameras of the Safe City Project were found stolen in the federal capital, police said on Saturday. Since September 2023, as many as five cameras have been stolen in the city.

The police said recently two cameras installed on the expressway, about two kilometres from the Koral police station, were stolen. However, the incident came to the knowledge of the police after five days.

An officer of the Safe City told Dawn that two cameras installed on the Koral flyover near the police station were found inoperative on the night of March 31. The monitoring room stopped receiving footage/view from the two cameras, but at that time no serious action was taken over it, he added.

On April 5, a technical team from the Safe City Authority was sent to the spot which found the two cameras worth Rs1.1 million stolen, the officer said, adding the team also found that an attempt was made to steal a cabinet, which had a battery to supply power to the camera.

Preliminary investigations suggested that the cameras were stolen on the night of March 31 while the attempt was made to steal the cabinet on April 1, the officer said.

Over the theft, a case was registered with Koral police station against unidentified thieves in response to a complaint lodged by Coordinator Safe City Islamabad Ahmad Hassan.

In September 2023, thieves stole a camera of Safe City Project installed a furlong away from the Margalla police station. The camera was stolen on September 2; however the authority came to know about the theft after two weeks.

The camera was found inoperative on the night of September 2 as no footage/view was received from it. However, even then no efforts were made by the police to check the camera except writing a report and verbally communicating the matter to a senior officer concerned.

After two weeks, a team from the Safe City Authority visited the spot and found the camera missing/stolen. The camera was valued at Rs120,000 when it was installed.

On March 28, 2024, two cameras and two cabinets of the Safe City Project installed near the Koral police station were stolen. The cameras and the cabinets were worth Rs1.1 million.

The issue was brought to the knowledge of the senior officer concerned, and Koral police were approached for registration of a case, the officer said, adding that a case had been registered in response to a complaint lodged by in-charge field coordinator Abdul Kabir.

The $125 million Safe City Project was launched in 2016 for the security and safety of the city and its residents besides prevention of crime and terrorism and arrest of criminals and terrorists. However, officers of the Safe City and the capital police rarely utilised the project for its main aim, the officer said.

There were also a number of theft incidents that took place in front of the Safe City cameras. However, the police failed to prevent such thefts or arrest the culprits, he added.

Talking to Dawn, another officer said there were over 2,500 cameras of Safe City installed in the city. However, there were only 125 screens at the Safe City Authority building for monitoring them. It is therefore not possible to keep an eye on every camera at a time, he added.

Published in Dawn, April 7th, 2024