Rawalpindi police appear helpless over rising car-theft incidents

Victims receive payment demands through internet calls; police fail to register FIR

ISLAMABAD: Rawalpindi police seem helpless before auto-thieves as cars continue to vanish from different parts of the city on a daily basis. In a new trend, the victims are now getting internet-routed calls from thieves who tell them to pay a certain amount to get back their cars.

Kamran Yousafzai, a scrap dealer, says his Corolla Saloon car was stolen from Bank Road in Saddar where he went to have a haircut on Sunday evening. A few hours later, he received an internet call with the caller ID showing a US number. The caller told him to pay Rs400,000 if he wanted to get back his car. “They told me to contact a man in Mardan through some trusted local resident. They are demanding Rs400,000 but I am willing to pay only Rs200,000,” Yousafzai told The Express Tribune.



Interestingly, when he approached the police and submitted a complaint soon after the incident, the police told him to pay the thieves if he wanted to get back his car. “Police told me to strike a deal with the thieves. They said they cannot trace the call since the callers were using the internet instead of a SIM card,” he said. The victim said two days had passed but the police had not even registered an FIR.

SHO Cantt Mian Imran Abbas said they encouraged the victim to strike a deal with the suspects because the police did not want to let the suspects know that they were being followed. “We told him so, because we wanted him to keep phone contact with the thieves as we try to track them down,” he said. The SHO said sometimes the victims pay the amount and their cars are returned. “The other day I was looking at FIRs circa 1968 and there were car theft cases then too,” the SHO said in response to a question about the high number of incidents of auto-theft in Rawalpindi.

“Tracing the internet call is a lengthy and difficult process. At least we have a lead and we will follow it, but it’s a tough deal and no child’s play,” the SHO said. He admitted that car theft was a serious issue in Rawalpindi city due to its proximity with both K-P and AJK where most stolen cars are believed to be taken after theft. Another officer said around seven to eight cars were being stolen in Rawalpindi every day.



Even after your car is stolen, getting a case registered remains a cumbersome process which often also involves payment of a heavy amount in bribe. Most car theft cases are marked untraced and consigned to a record room a few months after they are registered.

“When my car was stolen from Peshawar Road last year, I paid Rs25,000 to the investigation officer for registration of FIR. I paid him because I hoped they would recover my car. I was wrong,” said another victim of car theft in Rawalpindi.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 26^th, 2018.