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Thursday March 28, 2024

Kabul police tackle car theft... by deflating tyres

By our correspondents
October 25, 2016

KABUL: Police patrol the Afghan capital on a warm Sunday, but not to hunt extremists.

Instead, they are deflating the tyres of parked cars -- a theft prevention tactic that is raising eyebrows as the country struggles to contain the growing menace of petty crime.

Kabul and its estimated five million inhabitants are at war, a prime target for Taliban-led insurgent attacks as well as assaults by a nascent Islamic State.

The capital´s fledgling police force are under pressure to prevent atrocities, so -- short on time and resources -- they have taken a scorched earth approach when it comes to tackling more routine petty crime.

The logic is indisputable: if the car cannot be moved, it cannot be stolen.

"Police politely ask the residents to not park their cars in the open... but when they prefer to pay no heed, then police may move in to remove the air nozzles as a last measure," says Feraidoon Obaidi, chief of Kabul police´s criminal investigation department. "We can protect people from both the thieves and the terrorists," he says.

"But they should know how much energy we have to put in to stop terrorists in the city. By leaving their cars in the open, they are inviting thieves."

A series of attacks have ripped across Kabul in recent months, Jihadists armed with bombs and guns killing dozens of people, including the assault targeting during the Ashura festival earlier in October that left 14 people dead.