KARACHI: At least 4,553 motorcycles and 169 vehicles were stolen in Karachi in September, Citizens Police Liasion Committee (CPLC) stats showed Saturday.
According to the body, 19 cars were snatched while 169 were stolen. But only 58 of them were recovered by the police.
427 motorbikes were snatched, mostly at gunpoint, and 4,553 were stolen, the stats showed. The police were able to recover 282 of them.
Seperately, 2,446 people were deprived of their mobile phones, of which 46 were recovered, the CPLC added.
It added that 56 people were killed in various robbery incidents while one bank heist was also reported in September.
The anti-vehicle lifting cell (AVLC) arrested at least 4,211 lifters belonging to over 212 gangs active in Karachi, Superintendent of Police (SP) Tariq Nawaz told the press.
At least 24 suspected vehicle thieves were arrested after being injured in 19 police encounters, while five were reported dead in the encounters.
Nawaz said the AVLC recovered 3,015 motorbikes, and 462 cars in the nine months. The crime rate has come slightly down after the arrest of over 4,000 street criminals, he claimed.
He added that multiple gangs are stealing vehicles in Karachi. The police are trying to identify and arrest them, he said.
The official said that most bike thieves are local groups and drug addicts, while car-lifting gangs are mostly operating out of other parts of the country. Cars stolen from Karachi are sold in Balochistan and other provinces, he added.
The AVLC on September 23 busted an inter-provincial gang involved in stealing and snatching motorbikes from different areas of Karachi and selling them in Balochistan.
