Snatchers prowl in Rawalpindi streets

Snatching offenders most often approach victims on motorcycles. A week ago, 22-year-old Tahir Hussain was walking near Usman Market at around 8 p.m when a couple of men on a bike snatched his phone.

Ghazi Raza went to a police station to report the crime an hour after the offenders snatched his phone. “The police told me that it was no use investigating then. By that time, they would have disassembled the phone and sold its parts. But I still registered a complaint as a formality,” narrates Ghazi. He never got his phone back.

“Offenders tend to snatch in locations near their own areas of residence. Because these areas and the ones around are familiar to them, they know police patrol timings; they know when the roads are crowded and when they are relatively empty, and which roads could provide easy escape routes after an attempted or successful snatching,” says Saulat Abbas.

“Snatchers come to places where victims carry valuable items as the spoils are more there. Even installation of barricades, speed breakers, Better Street lighting in areas vulnerable to crime have not been able to prevent snatching incidents,” says Shadaab Haider.

“Once the offenders have committed a crime in a particular location without getting caught, they have formed some knowledge about the criminal opportunities there. They feel comfortable and emboldened to come back to the same location,” adds Shadaab.

“Most snatching incidents happen near retail stores. Most of the offenders are youngsters. Such crimes are committed in a matter of seconds, and one reason why offenders are between 19 to 25 years old is that they tend to own faster bikes. Most of the time, the offenders escape even before the victim realizes and reacts to the crime,” says Ghufran Ali.

“Snatchers hardly leave any physical clues. This crime normally involves two offenders. One person would be riding a bike, and the other person would be snatching the belongings of the victim,” says Qasim Hasan.

“CCTV cameras installed on the roads are unlikely to give very clear images of the number plate of the bikes used for snatching. High clarity CCTV cameras have low storage capacity and the footage is automatically erased within a week. As a result, streets more often have lower-end CCTV cameras to sidestep the problem of limited storage,” says Danial Haider, a police officer.

“With these types of cameras, we cannot see the face of the offender or the number plates clearly. Nevertheless, it is only because of CCTV cameras that the detection of snatching has been made possible in some cases at least,” explains Danial.

Talib Hussain, another police officer, says, “Even when number plates are visible, there are challenges. There have been multiple cases where the snatching was committed on stolen bikes, making it harder to catch the offender.”