LAHORE: There has been a 34 per cent increase in crimes in the city’s Model Town division alone, exposing the Lahore police’s tall claims of ensuring security of life and property of citizens.
Robberies and motorcycle theft remain the city’s top problems whereas heinous crimes, including murder, kidnapping for ransom, dacoity, robbery with murder, robbery, theft and car snatching are also a common occurrence.
According to the Comparative Heinous Crime Division Wise Data revealed that a total of 1,151 crimes happened in Model Town division alone during the first seven months of the current year while 767 crimes took place in the entire previous year of 2018—a 34 per cent increase.
According to the official data, 34 murders, 294 incidents of robbery, one incident of dacoity, nine cases of theft, two incidents of car snatching, 51 mobile snatching, 42 car thefts, 666 motorcycle theft and 52 incidents of vehicle theft took place in Model Town in the first half of the ongoing year.
The surge shows that Model Town police has failed to control crimes in its area — leaving citizens at the mercy of criminals.
The surprising fact is that the incidents of motorcycle theft in 2018 were 397, but have now touched 666 in the past seven months.
Murders remained the area’s biggest challenge after 56 people were killed in the area in 2018, and the situation has not changed since then. The official data further shows that the area stands at stage four in terms of crime surge as compared to the other five divisions of the city.
The residents of Model Town division complained about the lethargic attitude of police officials. They said that police officers did not bother to listen to their grievances when they approached them, adding that they had informed the law enforcers about robbers roaming in the streets freely and looting them on gunpoint.
“I got injured and lost money two days ago in an armed robbery,” said Muhammad Adeel who was robbed in broad daylight while he was commuting within Model Town. The complainant said that he approached the police but so far no arrest has been made.
“I was robbed on gunpoint in the midst of a crowd. The brazen act shows that robbers have no fear of the police or they are committing these crimes in connivance with the law enforcers,” he said.
Talking to Pakistan Today, Model Town Investigation Wing SP Muhammad Ajmal denied the surge in crimes, saying the police had successfully reined in criminals.
“There has been no surge in crimes in our division. There was just an incident of robbery and the perpetrators would soon be brought to justice,” SP Ajmal claimed, contradicting the official statistics.
“The police are fully prepared to take action against criminals and would try its best to provide security and protection to citizens,” he added.