ISLAMABAD, March 12: Street crimes are on the rise in Rawalpindi's bustling Satellite Town, as young boys on motorcycles without number plates are on a spree of snatching cellphones and cash.

“Coming back after work, I was walking from Sixth Road to my house close to the DSP New Town's office at 11 pm, when two young boys on a motorcycle asked which road leads to Commercial Market. When I went a bit closer, one of them held my arm and another accomplice hiding nearby joined them,” Imran Niaz, who works in a private company, told Dawn . “I handed over my cellphone and wallet. I was helpless. There was nobody around and I had to do what they said.”

Amjad Ali, another resident of the area, said he went to a park near Malikabad Plaza with a friend after dinner and sat on a bench after a brief walk. “We were busy gossiping when a tall boy with a gun approached us. The masked boy took away cellphones and cash and walked towards one of the gates where two persons were waiting for him.”

Sabeen Khan, a housewife, said her purse has been snatched twice in broad day light during the last three months in the vicinity of Commercial Market. She lost her purse to young boys in a busy area close to a main park in Satellite Town. She said the young boys were so confident that they did not care about people around, who looked on as if nothing had happened. “Nobody tried to stop or chase them. Perhaps people know that they carry arms with them,” she said.

Zafar Jamal, a businessman, lost his cellphone on Sixth Road as he was attending a call. “I was holding my cellphone lightly as I started walking towards my home. The two boys on a motorbike snatched my cellphone without touching me.” By the time he realised what had happened, the two boys had gone out of reach. “It was evening and there was lot of traffic.”

Amir Nazeer, a resident of Lalazar, came to the Satellite Town's commercial centre with his family for shopping. Leaving the family in the car, he went to a shop to buy cigarettes. Two boys on a bike took away his cellphone he had left the car's dashboard. “Their action was so swift that even those in the car could not realise what had happened.”

Naila Razzaq, who lives close to Jamia Rizvia Ziaul Uloom mosque in Satellite Town, said her purse and mobile phone were snatched at gunpoint while she was about to enter her home.The victims have called for a crackdown against motorcycles without number plates and establishing a special patrolling squad to prevent these incidents.

SHO New Town Malik Tariq Mehmood said Mahfaiz police have been deployed to check the incidents of cellphone and purse snatching. “We have also launched a special campaign against motorbikes without number plates.”