Security guards deployed at a money exchange company’s branch located in DHA was robbed of Rs14.7 million on Thursday, in what is being termed this year’s biggest robbery in the port city so far.
The guards managed to flee. Police and other law enforcement agencies arrived at the crime scene and were further investigating the matter.
This was the third robbery in the city this year after two private banks which were looted of millions of rupees.
A bank located on Rashid Minhas road was deprived of Rs1.2 million by five robbers in this year’s second bank heist this past Tuesday.
According to Sharea Faisal police officials, three of the five robbers barged into a branch of the Bank Al-Falah after overpowering three security guards. The two remaining robbers shuttered the bank from the outside. According to the bank’s management, the bank was deprived of around Rs1.2 million. Statements of witnesses were recorded, and a case was registered. The police said that they had acquired the CCTV footage of the incident and was also getting sketches of the robbers developed.
The robbers made away with the hostage security guards’ weapons while fleeing. As per the police officials, this was the year’s second bank robbery.
In the first one a private bank located near the Punjab Chowrangi, in Defence, was looted on January 19. Around five to six robbers made away with Rs1.1 million from a bank located on the Sunset Boulevard.
In January, the Citizens Police Liaison Committee (CPLC) had identified 60 areas of the city where citizens were at a high risk of mugging and other street crimes.
These areas also include the Nipa Chowrangi, Hassan Square, Sakhi Hassan, Aisha Manzil, Tariq Road, Bahadurabad, Do Darya, PIDC, Clifton and Defence.
According to the investigative agency, robbers frequent the road from Qalandria Chowk in North Nazimabad to Five Star Chowrangi, and rob unsuspecting people of their cash and mobile phones.
The mini-food street at Hassan Square is also a high-risk zone where street criminals easily get away with their acts without any fear of getting caught. The route from the Karachi University to Safari Park was also identified as unsafe.
The road from Sea View to Do Darya was also highlighted as a high-risk area where muggers hold picnickers at gunpoint and rob them of their belongings.
As per CPLC’s statistics for 2016, 19,336 cases of mobile snatching were reported. Street crime grew by 38 percent. In addition, 22,358 motorcycles were snatched – the figure was up by 24 percent as compared to 2015. However, CPLC noted that car theft declined in 2016.
