Crimes like car lifting, snatching of motorbikes and mobile phones and theft of two-wheelers witnessed increase in 2020 as compared to 2019. Moreover, the police registered FIRs of street crimes more than past several years in an attempt to pursue the cases, officials and sources have said. However, snatching of cars, kidnapping for ransom, extortion and bank robberies decreased during the same period. According to crime statistics compiled by the Citizens-Police Liaison Committee (CPLC), 1,452 cars were stolen in 2019 and 1,527 in 2020. Similarly, 1,897 two-wheelers were hijacked in 2019 but 2,431 motorbikes were snatched in 2020. A total of 28,609 motorcycles were stolen in 2019, which climbed to 34,908 in 2020. The number of mobile phones snatched in 2019 was 19,862 against 21,578 snatched in 2020. Eleven persons were kidnapped in 2019 but in 2020 only three incidents of kidnapping for ransom were reported. This was considered as a significant reduction in the organised crime category after launching of a targeted operation in Karachi in September 2013. As the CPLC data showed 115 persons were kidnapped for ransom in 2014. Similarly, bhatta (extortion) has also registered a decrease as 32 incidents of extortion were reported in 2019, which came down to 22 in 2020. It was pointed out that in 2014, 937 cases of bhatta were reported. Bank robberies also reduced as three incidents of robbing of banks were reported in 2019 and in 2020, only one incident of bank robbery took place. The data showed that in 2014, 19 incidents of bank robberies took place. The CPLC data showed that 363 people were killed in 2019 for various reasons while 385 persons were murdered in 2020. But in 2014, 1,629 people were killed.
