PESHAWAR, Feb 1: There has been a marked decline in cases of heinous crimes involving Afghan nationals since the repatriation of a large number of refugees from the city and its suburbs.

According to official records, the Capital City Police registered 277 cases of murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping, burglary and car-snatching against Afghan refugees in the last four years, from Jan 2001 to Dec 2004.

However, a senior police official said the official record was based on complaints lodged by aggrieved persons and the actual figure was much higher. "More than 50 per cent of heinous crimes were committed by the Afghan nationals in the city," Senior Superintendent of Police (operation) Abid Ali told Dawn.

Official statistics showed that 168 Afghans were nominated in the cases of murders from Jan 2001 to Dec 2004 against total cases of 1,441 registered with the city police.

In the year 2001, 49 cases of murder were registered against Afghans and 47, 41 and 31 cases registered against them in the year 2002, 2003 and 2004, respectively. "Afghans are involved in most of the murder cases, but the victim families nominate their rivals and not the Afghan assassins who are paid for the murder," the SSP said.

"They can even commit a murder even for Rs10,000," he observed. Unemployment and poverty were the major causes of their involvement in the murders, he added. "They commit the crimes and can easily go back to their country," he said. And it was always difficult for the city police to arrest them as these Afghan criminals could get across the border in an hour, Mr Abid maintained.

In the last four years, 59 cases of attempt to murder were registered against the Afghans with the city police against the total cases of 1,727, according to the city police record.

Six cases of attempt to murder were registered against the Afghans in the year 2001, while 17, 26 and 10 FIRs lodged in the years 2002, 2003 and 2004, respectively.

Kidnapping for ransom was another major crime, and 19 cases were registered against the Afghans from the year 2001 to 2004 against the total number of 109 cases lodged with the Capital City Police during the same period.

Seven cases of kidnapping for ransom were registered in the year 2001, but in the next three years the ratio decreased to six, four and two, respectively. In the last four years, total reported burglaries in the city were 55. Out of this, 19 cases were registered against the Afghan nationals.

The burglaries committed by Afghans in the year 2001 were three and in 2002 the figure went up to six and the next year to 10. However, the police did not register any case of burglary against an Afghan during the year 2004.

Total 119 crimes of car snatching were committed in the last four years and only 12 cases were registered against Afghans during the same period. Five cases of car snatching were reported against the Afghan refugees in the year 2001 and the next year no Afghan was found involved in 28 cases registered with the city police.

However, in 2003, two cases and in the year 2004, five cases of car snatching were registered against Afghans. Afghans were indirectly involved in the car snatching and car stealing crimes, said another senior police official.

It was observed that the car-lifter sold the stolen cars to Afghans, he added. According to their information, he said, in the showrooms of second-hand cars in Jalalabad and Kabul, there were many cars with Pakistani number plates. The car dealers openly informed their buyers about these cars, he observed.