In a fresh tactic to dodge police, suspected criminals in Peshawar are increasingly making use of an electronic device to switch number plates in a matter of seconds.
Being known as the 'Spiderman Group', the gang uses the system to avoid law enforcement agency personnel for lack of a genuine number plate or worse, following a crime.
The revelation was made after the police caught a suspect using the aforesaid number plate in the Gulbahar neighbourhood and booked him under various sections of the law.
The group came to the fore after similar incidents in Punjab, with areas of Kohati Gate, Sheikh Abad, Kakshal and Gulbahar being known as hot spots for the machine's installation.
The situation is bound to give rise to crime in the metropolis, such as mobile phone snatching, theft and dacoity.
A week ago, it was reported that with taxes on imported phones at an all-time high, a mobile phone purchase can be equated to purchasing an ounce of gold and this is what makes them mouth-watering prospects for thieves in the provincial capital.
The upsurge in the exchange rate of the dollar means that some higher-end phones are now worth well over Rs300,000 and with inflation and unemployment expected to worsen, the rise in street crime will see a drastic rise. Resultantly, the most commonly sought items for organised street crime groups will be cell phones.
Although there’s a scarcity of data on actual mobile snatchings in Peshawar, roughly 22 gangs have been arrested by the city’s police and around 175 cell phones have been recovered since the start of the year, as per police sources.
Even though the numbers seem measly given Peshawar’s more than 2 million-strong population, citizens have started fearing that a Karachi-like wave of mobile snatching is upon the city.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 30th, 2022.
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