KARACHI: Crimes ratio in Karachi has increased as police data shows 44 citizens were killed by muggers, 38 suspected robbers were killed in ‘encounters’, over 5,600 motorbikes, 518 cars snatched/stolen in the first five months of 2023.
According to the data compiled by the Sindh police, as many as 44 Karachiites were murdered by robbers from January to May this year. However, the number of people killed during the same period last year was 26, indicating that murders by robbers had doubled during the current year.
Police list incidents of mobile phone snatching, robberies, motorcycle/car snatching and theft in the category of street crime. The data of the Sindh police shows an overall situation of serious lawlessness in the provincial capital.
The data shows Karachi witnessed 116 shop robberies and 1,713 other robberies during the first five months. At least 518 cars were taken away from citizens during the same period, of which 46 were snatched at gunpoint and 472 were stolen. Over 11,500 cell phones snatched or stolen.
Some 4,441 motorcycles were stolen and 1,191 snatched at gunpoint during the first five months. The number of mobile phones snatched or stolen during the same period stands at 11,936. The police claimed to have arrested 477 suspects in injured condition during such encounters.
The data suggests that as much as 38 suspected robbers were killed in alleged police encounters during the January-May period. The year started with the killing of 25-year-old Jahangir Sohail who had been shot dead outside his home on the very first day of the year, and since then, a citizen is murdered, statistically on average, on almost every third day.
In a number of cases, armed criminals shot several citizens who did not resist physically or even verbally. However, the police categorized all such cases as “robbery resistance” regardless of the fact whether a victim put up resistance or not.
