ISLAMABAD: Safe City Islamabad Authority’s three surveillance cameras were stolen in a single day, police said on Tuesday.

The incident, the second of its kind in as many months, is likely to prove embarrassing for the police as the very system intended to monitor and document criminal activity appears to have failed to prevent the offence.

Even though the incident was recorded on a camera in real-time, the police only found out about the theft after almost three weeks.

The Rs549,500-worth cameras installed at G-9/4 were stolen along with other equipment inside a cabinet. The thieves also took away the cabinet.

The incident took place on May 5, 2026; however, the authority took notice and lodged a complaint after 26 days, exposing its lack of alertness regarding the security and keeping an eye on such activities.

Over the incident, a case has been registered at Karachi Company Police Station in response to a complaint lodged by the Safe City’s official, Ahmed Hassan, against two persons.

The police said the three Safe City’s dome cameras along with a cabinet were stolen. Two persons were seen stealing the cameras in the recorded footage.

A police officer said the cameras were found offline since May 5; however, no one noticed it. After weeks, a technical team was sent to the spot to inquire about the matter on May 31.

During the visit, the team found the three cameras and the cabinet stolen. Later, the last footage of the cameras was examined and the stealing incident was found.

The issue was later brought to the knowledge of senior officers and under their directives the case was registered.

Earlier, on April 19, 2026, a face recognition camera of Safe City installed at the Faizabad Metro Station was stolen. After days, the technical teams visited the spot when the camera was found continuously offline. The team found the camera missing from the spot. The previous footage captured through the camera before it went offline was examined, which revealed that a man stole it.

The Safe City took nine days to ascertain the camera was stolen and the case was registered on April 28.

On October 24, 2025, thieves stole Islamabad Safe City Authority’s equipment installed at a distance of one and a half kilometre from the Karachi Company Police Station.

The theft incident came to light when Safe City’s technician visited G-9/2 and found the lock of a pole installed at Street No 11 broken. He inspected the pole and equipment installed there and found a battery worth Rs35,000 stolen.

In March 2024, two Safe City’s cameras worth Rs1.1million, installed on the Koral flyover near the police station, were also found missing. The monitoring room stopped receiving footage/view from the two cameras and later came to know about the incident.

In September 2023, thieves stole a camera worth Rs120,000 of the Safe City Project installed near the Margalla police station. The camera was stolen on September 2; however, the authority came to know about the theft after two weeks.

Published in Dawn, June 3rd, 2026