Daily Times

A station house officer (SHO) was removed on Sunday and directives were issued for the permanent deployment of two police mobiles at street crime hotspots on Karachi’s main Korangi Causeway as a group of robbers looted over 100 people in the area Saturday night, in what is being termed as the biggest street crime incident of the year so far.

Over a hundred passengers were robbed during a traffic jam on the route on Saturday night, triggering an outcry on social media. Ten to 12 robbers reportedly set up roadblocks to trap vehicles and proceeded to rob the people with relative ease and appeared to not be afraid of police and rangers. According to the citizens caught in the roadblock, they had phoned the police helpline but it could not reach the location in time. Moreover, the police not only denied the incident but also failed to register an FIR.

East Zone DIG Muquddus Haider said that the group of robbers involved in the incident had been “traced”. He said that according to the information available, the suspects were arrested in the past but were later released. He said Korangi SSP Faisal Bashir was working on the case as a citizen had lodged a complaint.

Haider said that the Korangi Industrial Area SHO was removed as directives had been issued for the permanent deployment of police mobiles at the spot where the citizens, mostly motorcyclists, were looted on Saturday night. “But the [police] mobile was missing,” he said. The senior officer stated that two police mobiles would be deployed in the area as there were no street lights on the route, adding that officials had received complaints about citizens being looted in the past.

Police estimated that around 10-12 motorcyclists were robbed on Saturday night. However, reports circulating on social media claimed that 10 armed dacoits robbed 100 passengers on the main road.

Maritime Affairs Minister Ali Zaidi, who is also president of the PTI’s Sindh chapter, retweeted a video of a man who supposedly witnessed the robbers looting citizens. In the video, the man claimed that he had called the 15 helpline but police were nowhere to be seen.

“This is the state of lawlessness in the financial capital of Pakistan and the moron who chairs the political party ruling this province for 15 years wants to do a long march to Islamabad,” the minister said, taking a jibe at PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari.

Actor Fakhre Alam said that what was happening in Karachi was “very sad, appalling and dangerous”. “It is no longer a political debate. It is a city drowning into the abyss of crime. The police is failing, the citizens are paying the price. Action beyond political posturing is the need of the hour. SAVE KARACHI.”

Talking to a private TV channel, a citizen said that the city “has been handed over to robbers” and that the performance of police, rangers and other law enforcement agencies responsible for the protection of life and property has been “reduced to zero”.

Karachi has seen an increase in incidents of street crime recently with growing complaints from all segments of society, which have also called out the security administration for its failure to curb such incidents.

Last week, the Sindh government had abruptly removed the Karachi police chief, Additional Inspector General Imran Yaqoob Minhas, after only nine months on the post and replaced him with his predecessor, Ghulam Nabi Memon. A day earlier, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah had blamed the “deteriorating economic conditions” in the country for the recent surge in street crime in the city. Earlier this week, a senior producer working for a private TV channel was shot dead during a botched robbery in Karachi’s North Nazimabad area. Athar Mateen was gunned down after he rammed his vehicle into the bike of alleged robbers who were looting a citizen, said police. As the alleged robbers fell down they fired shots at the vehicle, killing the media worker, said SSP Central Rana Maroof. The suspects managed to flee after the incident on a bike snatched from a citizen while leaving their bike behind, the SSP added. Karachi Police Chief Ghulam Nabi Memon blamed drug addiction and unemployment for the spike in street crimes and said that the police have accepted the challenge to tackle this problem.