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Cell phones snatching is the most rising crime in the Karachi, though many incidents go unreported. (IOL photo) |
KARACHI — When you are in Pakistan you better hold on tight to your mobile because the selling of stolen phone sets is increasingly becoming a lucrative business in the Asian country.
Saad, 16, was enjoying ice-cream outside an ice parlor in Gulshan-e-Iqbal, a middle income-bracket locality in the southern port city of Karachi, along with three friends.
He was busy showing them the function of a new cellular phone set his father bought him after his excellent performance in the final examinations.
All of a sudden, a young man approached them with his right hand in his pants pocket.
In a soft tone, he asked Saad and his pals to hand him over their cellular phones, showing a sophisticated pistol from his pocket.
The boys had no other option but to hand over their phones to the guy who slowly and confidently moved back towards a motorbike where his two accomplices were waiting for him.
They vanished in thin air.
The episode is nothing of a rarity. On the contrary, dozens of similar incidents where cell phones are being snatched go unreported in different parts of Karachi every day.
Official statistics released by the Citizens Police Liaison Committee (CPLC) show that 46,164 cellular phones were either snatched or stolen in the metropolis in 2006 against 27,757 in 2005, registering an almost 100 percent increase.
According to these figures, 127 people are deprived of their mobile phones everyday in Karachi alone.
In January, a total of 1,603 cell phones were either snatched at gunpoint or stolen in various localities.
Cell phones snatching is the most rising crime in the metropolis, as the modus operandi for this crime is very simple.
Just snatch a cell phone, throw out the SIM and sell it against half of its actual market-value price in cell phone markets where scores of shopkeepers are buying and selling stolen sets virtually in connivance with police.
Statistics reveal that this phenomenon has assumed alarming proportions during last four years as around 100 citizens have lost their lives while resisting the bandits.
Patronized
CPLC and police officials admit the numbers are three times higher than the official figures because in most cases the victims do not report the incident to police citing unfriendly police attitude.
"Around 30 percent incidents still go unreported," Ali Raza, a CPLC official, told IslamOnline.net, adding that unreported incidents went in favor of the culprits.
He recalled that the reporting ratio of such incidents was merely 50 percent in 2005, asserting it went up to 70 percent in 2006.
Many victims do not bother to report the theft to police not simply because of unfriendly attitude but over conviction of police involvement.
"Just leave it. It was the lost of only Rs 4000," Zulfikar Shah, a local journalist whose cellular phone was snatched while waiting for the bus at a bus stop a few days ago, told IOL.
"Even If I report the incident, what's the use? It will never be recovered," he argued.
"Everybody knows that this business is being patronized by the police, therefore I don't expect anything favorable from their part," charged the reporter.
Sarwar Shaheed Road, one of the city's busiest commercial localities, has become infamous for mobile phone snatching.
The interesting fact is that the local police station is located just a little way off, according to IOL correspondent.
Shamim Ahmed, a senior journalist, has so far "gifted" his three mobile phones to the snatchers at Sarwar Shaheed Road.
In protest, he has stopped walking along that road.
Area residents claim those involved in cell phones snatching are the sons and relatives of police personnel.
The fact that most cases are not reported helps police strike "deal" with the snatchers.
In the majority of cases, police do not register the case if the snatchers are arrested and the cell phones are recovered.
Wealthy Youths
According to police, not only traditional criminals but youths of affluent families are involved in phone snatching.
The CPLC officials say youths belonging to affluent families are involved in this crime either to quench their thrill, which is traced to action movies, or to meet their "peripheral" expenses.
A few months back, police arrested a youth red-handed while snatching a cell phone from a pedestrian at Boating Basin, one of the posh localities of Karachi.
Later, the youth appeared to be the son of a serving judge of the High Court.
He was released and the unlicensed pistol found in his possession was confiscated by police, a senior police official told IOL, wishing not to be named.
The youth told police that he was given "only" Rs 1000 (20 dollars) in daily allowance by his parents.
He insisted the sum was not enough to cover his "expenses".
The electronic market association, in collaboration with the local police, has introduced a web-based computer software to check the sale of snatched sets.
"In view of unbridled incidents of mobile phone snatching and stealing, our association is going to register every mobile phone set in future," Abdul Waheed, chairman if the electronics dealers association, told IOL.
"We hope for an effective check on the illegal trading of snatched or stolen cell phones to a great extent."
A private company dealing in branded cell phone sets had prepared the web-based software which was launched on experimental basis.
"The results are excellent and people can have access to the software from their personal computers through Internet," Waheed said.
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