ISLAMABAD – As many as 505 vehicles were stolen and 90 were snatched in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) in 2010, Minister for Interior Rehman Malik informed the National Assembly on Friday.
In a written reply to a question, he said that there is slight increase in the ratio of car lifting and jacking crimes and about 144 vehicles were lifted and 19 were snatched so far in the current year.
Malik said 109 cases were registered under head of car jacking (snatching) in 2010-11 and out of which 58 vehicles have been recovered. Giving reasons of crimes, he said the conviction rate is very low while on the other hand illicit business of car theft is highly lucrative for the criminals as they earn more in this crime as compared to other crimes.
He further said that ICT being in closer proximity to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and easy access to Punjab is another reason, adding that the inter provincial nature of crime benefits the criminals to save their skins from the clutches of law.
He, however, said that several concrete steps have been taken to curb the crime as well as recover the stolen cars.
He said the ICT has been divided in 44 beats and experienced officers were deputed in each beat to watch activities of suspects. As many as 54 Nakabandi points were set up on the key points of ICT which were functioning round the clock. Furthermore, 20 Falcons and 51 Eagles squads were patrolling in ICT besides foot patrolling in streets.
Malik said that during the year 2010-11 a total 109 cases were registered under the head of car jacking out of which 58 have been recovered.