This code word could save you from being robbed in Karachi

Staffers of distribution companies are being spared by street criminals if they say the predetermined codes

KARACHI: Extortion has remained an ugly aspect of public life in Karachi. And it seems that the city will never be able to rid itself of the menace. Pre-Karachi Operation it was an organised system that was backed and, at times, controlled by elements in influential political parties. Now, it has emerged, it is independent criminals who have formed their syndicates in different areas to collect extortion for providing protection against street crime.

While law enforcement agencies have largely failed to contain the menace of street crimes in Karachi, criminal cartels nevertheless seem to have become ‘generous’ and introduced a protection service system that will save you from being looted.

It has emerged that in some areas of the city, particularly Sultanabad, Keamari, Clifton, Kharadar, Mithadar and Federal B Area, traders and distribution companies have entered into deals with street criminals for ‘protection’.



The companies pay a certain amount against each of their vehicles employed for the purpose of distribution. Against this payment, the staffers of these companies, including drivers, are provided with different code words, such as ‘Amn’. In case street criminals attempt to loot cash from them, they are supposed to say these code words to be spared. “They must tell the criminals during robbery their code word,” said an official of one such distribution company. “Then no one will touch you.”

In case you are looted despite saying the required code, the company staff can contact the head of the criminal cartels in the area to get back their cash and valuables, he added.

According to traders, different criminal heads have fixed different prices for each vehicle. The prices range between Rs500 and Rs5,000, depending on the criminal gang and the company’s revenue. Most of the distribution companies operating in certain parts of the city, which were approached by the criminals, have entered into protection deals with street criminals to get protection, added sources.



“I work in a private distribution company,” said Akbar, a staffer of a company based in Sultanabad. “Our vehicle travels thrice a week to the Sultanabad area of Keamari with Rs2 million cash approximately. As we have been looted a number of times and the police could not protect us or play its role to curb such incidents, we go with the criminals who approach us for protection.”

‘Left with no option’

Traders have urged upon the government time and again to take action given the rising number of incidents of street crimes and robberies. They have also demanded that the government deploy Rangers on permanent basis in Karachi as the police have failed to control street crimes and robberies.

“There is no clear policy on part of the police to control street crime and robberies in the mega city, which is why the traders are compelled to get protection from the criminals,” said a trader requesting anonymity. “The IG and additional IG should hold meetings with the traders and should form joint committees to deal with the matter.”



The chairperson of the Sindh Tajir Ittehad, Jamil Paracha, told The Express Tribune that it is a really alarming situation. “What can we expect from the state in this province where the IG is also serving on the court’s stay order?” he asked.

Pinning the blame

Meanwhile, the police blamed the traders and companies. According to City SP Shahla Qureshi, the police are not failing – it is just that people do not trust the police. “This is very simple,” she said. “Why can’t they trust the police instead of criminals?”

She further said that the standard operating procedure (SOP) is that if someone is moving with more than Rs100,000 cash, they must approach the police for protection. “But they don’t do this,” she told The Express Tribune. “So who is wrong – the police or they?”



SP Qureshi said that in most of the cases, staffers, particularly cashiers or accountants, of the companies are involved in such cases and have connections with the criminals. “Recently, we have also resolved a case in which the cashier of a private distribution company gave Rs200,000 in cash to the criminals,” she explained.

Such modus operandi of criminals points towards the syndicates formed by petty thieves and street criminals on their own. If this will emerge as mafias controlling the city like some kind of underworld in the long run remains a telling question.