Daily Times

LAHORE: It appears that dacoits and thieves contine to rule over the city, as citizens have been deprived of their cash, jewellery, vehicles and other valuables in more than 500 incidents of robbery and theft during the first month of the current year.

The city police claimed that a decline in the crime rate had been observed in Lahore as compared to 2015 and 2016.

According to an official document of the Operations Wing available with Daily Times, at least 13,955 incidents of murder, kidnapping for ransom, robbery, theft, snatching, burglary and other crimes took place in 2016, while 15,834 incidents were reported in 2015.

According to reports of the current year, at least 155 cars, more than 250 motorcycles and other vehicles have been snatched or stolen during January alone. Despite the contingents of police force equipped with latest technologies and new vehicles roaming around the city, dacoit and robbers continue to loot people in their houses, shops, streets and on roads all day long.

A reliable source told Daily Times that police pickets had been set up on the directives of the police high-ups on different city roads, especially after the growing number of terrorism threats.

He said that due to police pickets, massive traffic jams could also be observed on city roads, making the people wonder why the public were being made to face problems in the name of security, especially during working hours.

As per the reports, five to seven cars and 10 to 12 motorbikes were being snatched or lifted on a daily basis. Moreover, four to five robberies and eight to 10 incidents of street crimes were taking place every day in different parts of the city, in which innocent citizens were deprived of their valuables including cash, gold ornaments, bikes and cars worth millions of rupees.

It was also learnt through reliable police sources that criminal gangs were working in the outskirts of the city in collaboration with each other, and they usually targeted posh and urban localities of Lahore.

In this situation, the police did not find any clue of the gangs depriving citizens of their valuables, despite heavy police patrolling in the provincial metropolis.

Dacoits, thieves and gangsters have bypassed all security measures to make the lives of citizens miserable.

It has also been observed that despite going through physical and mental agony, the victims do not bother approaching the police in order to avoid further hassle that they would have to face in the form of repeated visits to police stations, as they know there will be no outcome of the effort.

Talking to Daily Times, some citizens, including Khalid Malik, Sabir and Sarfaraz, who have been deprived of their valuables during rubbery and mugging incidents, said that mobile, motorbike, purse and handbag snatching incidents were increasing in the city.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the DIG (operations) said that the police had maintained better control over the situation of law and order during year of 2016 as compared to 2015, which resulted in a downward trend on the crime graph in different categories like murder, attempted murder, robbery, theft and burglary in the provincial metropolis.

He added that the police were working against criminals and several gangs had been busted during the last few days. He said that the police would fully overpower the criminals soon after the installation of CCTV cameras across the city under the Safe City Project.