‘Spree of burglaries at city markets creating unrest among traders’

Following Monday’s break-in at 12 Empress Market shops – the fourth mass robbery this year and the third in a month’s span – the All Pakistan Organisation of Small Traders and Cottage Industries (APOST CA) has demanded immediate action from the Sindh government to redress “a wave of panic and unrest among traders”.

“In just over 20 days, there have been burglaries at three major trade centres of Karachi; Tibet Centre, Urdu Bazaar and Empress Market. There is no way this cannot be a concern for a government that has overseen an extensive operation to restore a semblance of security in this city,” said Mehmood Hanif, president of the traders’ organisation, on Tuesday.

He asserted that it was the traders themselves who were most relieved by the improving security situation, and the resurging lawlessness during an ongoing operation had created a palpable sense of fear.

“Even now, extortion remains curbed but burglaries and street crimes around markets have been increasing at a worrying pace. If the government does not want to lose the ground gained, it must act immediately.”

He added that it was not just the city’s markets that were witnessing criminal activity as traders in suburban areas of the metropolis were being equally affected.  “We will raise our voices at every forum to ensure we receive adequate security,” he said, urging the Sindh chief minister, DG Rangers and police chief to take concentrated steps to nab the mafia involved in this spree of organised crime.

The expression of concern from traders came a day after 12 shops inside Saddar’s historic Empress Market were robbed in the wee hours of Monday. 

Preedy SHO Aurangzeb Khattak said the police found that the front locks of the burgled shops were unbroken, while the grille of the market’s entrance gate was also intact and its locks too were unbroken. 

Consequently, the market’s two watchmen, Abdul Rahim and Usman Ghani, have been detained over suspicion that they might have assisted the robbers, who the officer said may have been four or five in number. 

Monday’s break-in was preceded by one on September 24, wherein 15 shops were robbed at Urdu Bazaar on MA Jinnah Road. Thieves had broken into the shops and made off with millions of rupees. In that case too, police had booked a security guard. 

Earlier on September 9, 22 shops were robbed at Tibet Centre in an overnight break-in. The robbers had overpowered the watchman and used cutters to break the locks of the shops, making away with around Rs600,000. The police had later arrested four Afghan nationals in connection with the case.

Tibet Centre was also the location of another robbery a few months before this when five shops were looted.

After the first robbery, plans were discussed to install CCTV cameras inside and around Tibet Centre during a meeting between police officials and market traders, however, no steps were taken to materialise the plan. 

The SHO said the market traders had assured the police that they would install CCTV cameras but had not done so yet.

Also, in the Muharram of 2015, at least 24 shops situated in Madina Medicine market were robbed during the Ashura holidays.

 The market situated near Denso Hall had been closed as part of security measures for mourning processions which passed by it on their way to the Hussainian Iranian Imambargah in Kharadar.

According to the police, the shop owners arrived after the three-day holiday and found the locks broken and large caches of expensive medicine, along with cash in the tills, missing.