Rampant street crime in Karachi has claimed 104 lives this year

KARACHI: The people of the City of Lights continue to be plagued by the menace of street crime, as Karachi has witnessed an alarming increase in violent incidents of mugging this year, with 104 people having been shot dead by armed robbers, spreading fear and a sense of insecurity among the residents.

On September 24, violent muggers gunned down an employee of the Pakistan Navy at Chamra Chowrangi near Korangi. His two-year-old daughter was also killed in the incident.

On September 25, bodies of a woman and her son were found in a well at a residence in Nazimabad’s Mujahid Colony. Shaista Bibi and her son Abdul Hadi, who ran a home-basedcatering business, had been reported missing since September 19 by the woman’s daughter.

A police investigation revealed that three people had been hired by Hadi for the business, but they hatched a plan to rob their employers. After finding only Rs18,000 in cash and a car, they allegedly killed Shaista and Hadi, and dumped their bodies in the well.

On September 18, Ali Abbas, 24, was shot thrice and seriously wounded for resisting at attempt to mug him at his workshop in Korangi. He succumbed to his injuries at a hospital on September 20.

Besides Abbas, his father Mazhar Ali, 55, was also wounded. They had been working at their workshop when two men arrived there to snatch their mobile phones. Their resistance prompted the suspects to shoot them. The victims were taken to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, where Abbas succumbed to his injuries.

With these recent deaths, the number of people killed by robbers in the city this year has risen to 104, while hundreds of others have been wounded in almost nine months.

Data gathered from different newspapers shows that 13 people were killed by armed robbers in January, 12 in February, 10 in March, 12 in April, 15 in May, nine in June, 12 in July, eight in August and 13 this month.

According to a report of the Karachi police, a total of 82 people lost their lives in street crime in the city until September 19 this year, while during the same period, 361 others were injured in mugging incidents.

The police report also states that during their ongoing operations to control crime in the city, the Karachi police have carried out 755 encounters this year.

During the shoot-outs with suspects, 123 of them were killed and 926 others were arrested in an injured condition, cites the performance report of the Karachi police, whose spokesperson claimed that a total of 5,339 suspects were arrested in different operations.

Some 60,000 street crime incidents have been reported in the city this year, according to the Citizens-Police Liaison Committee (CPLC), whose figures show that 59,511 such incidents have occurred between January and August. The CPLC is yet to issue crime statistics for September.

August appears to have been the worst month for the city’s residents in terms of street crime, with 8,207 such incidents being reported, resulting in the robbing of 2,582 mobile phones, 231 cars and 5,394 motorbikes.

In July, 7,162 incidents were reported, with the victims being deprived of 2,092 mobile phones, 158 cars and 4,912 motorbikes. In June, 7,141 incidents were reported, with the victims being deprived of 2,200 mobile phones, 193 cars and 4,748 motorbikes. In May, 7,845 incidents were reported, with the victims being deprived of 2,472 mobile phones, 165 cars and 5,208 motorbikes. In April, 7,287 incidents were reported, with the victims being deprived of 2,253 mobile phones, 161 cars and 4,873 motorbikes.

In March, 7,822 incidents were reported, with the victims being deprived of 2,577 mobile phones, 188 cars and 5,057 motorbikes. In February, 6,798 incidents were reported, with the victims being deprived of 2,255 mobile phones, 163 cars and 4,380 motorbikes.

And in the month of January, 7,249 incidents of street crime were reported, with the victims being deprived of 2,379 mobile phones, 227 cars and 4,643 motorbikes.