KARACHI, June 10: On an average 27 vehicles — 11 cars and 16 motorcycles — a day were hijacked/stolen in the city in May, showing an increase of four vehicles a day in the incidents of hijacking and theft of cars and motorcycles when compared to such incidents in March, the police’s data shows.

According to the police’s statistics, there was a decrease in the incidents of hijacking and theft of cars and motorcycles in March this year as 714 vehicles were hijacked/stolen in March as compared to 785 vehicles in February and 886 in January. However, 837 vehicles were hijacked/stolen in April and 831 in May.

The sources claimed that the decline was due to deployment of police at five exit & entry points of the city such as Dhabeji on National Highway, Super Highway and Mochko. It was observed that bandits did not transport hijacked/ stolen vehicles through unmetalled roads but they used such roads as Hub River Road, Super Highway and National Highway.

After the introduction of police reforms and enforcement of a new system in police, the manpower from the Anti-car Lifting Cell (ACLC had been withdrawn, so it had become difficult for the ACLC to deploy manpower at exit & entry points/routes. Vehicle check on these routes was not being properly carried out since March this year. So until March the fear of police check acted as a deterrent. But from April criminals increased their activity which reflected in a rise in the incidents of car hijacking, the sources said.

Recently, the Inspector-General of the Sindh Police, Syed Kamal Shah, had announced that deployment of police would be increased at 39 entry & exit points. The sources, however, said, instead, policemen from five major points were withdrawn due to shortage of manpower in the ACLC.

The statistics show that there was a decline in the incidents of car hijacking/theft in the first quarter of this year as bandits/thieves hijacked/ stole 330 cars in January, 308 in February and 289 in March. As after March the exit and entry routes were left without policemen, such incidents, again, increased in April and May. 343 four-wheelers were hijacked/stolen in April and 340 in May.

Similar was the situation as regards hijacking/theft of motorcycles as bandits/thieves hijacked/stole 556 motorcycles in January, 477 in February and 425 in March. In April 494 motorcycles were hijacked/stolen and 491 in May.

Although 1,610 four-wheelers were hijacked/stolen in the first five months of this year as compared to 1,930 in the same period of last year, there was a lack of check on transportation of hijacked/stolen vehicles to other districts/provinces. If the absence of check persisted, incidents of vehicle hijacking/theft are likely to increase in future.

On the other hand, in the first five months of this year, a 9.8 per cent rise in the incidents of motorcycle hijacking/theft was noticed when compared to figures in the same period last year. 2,443 motorcycles were hijacked/stolen in the city in January-May this year as compared to 2,204 in the same period last year.

The average rate of recovery of four-wheelers by police was at 44 per cent in the first five months of this year. For two-wheelers, it was at 25 per cent. The rate of recovery for the same period last year was more than 50 per cent for four-wheelers and 28 per cent for two-wheelers.

The areas where most cars were hijacked/stolen in the city in May were Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Ferozabad, Gulistan-i-Jauhar, Gizri, Darakhshan, North Nazimabad and Clifton.

Most motorcycles were hijacked/stolen in May in Orangi Town, Nazimabad, Korangi Industrial Area, Preedy, Azizabad, Kharadar, Saddar and Gulshan-i- Iqbal.

The IG Sindh was given a briefing on the situation pertaining to car hijacking and theft in the city a couple of days back, the sources said, adding that he was told only one car was hijacked in the police limits of Ferozabad in May.

However, sources in police claimed that the reported cases of car hijacking in Ferozabad in May were eight. Fourteen four-wheelers were also stolen in the same police limits in May.