Police catch thieves stealing dashboard panels, side mirrors

KARACHI:

Sahil Police arrested three operatives of a gang that stole valuables by breaking the windows of vehicles in upscale neighbourhood of Defence Housing Authority (DHA).

Police arrested Yasir, Bilal and Umeer, involved in stealing panels and other valuables from the vehicle parked near Creek Vista Apartments in DHA.

Police recovered panels of the new model vehicle, LCDs, side glasses, headlights, backlights and other valuable items from their possession. The police say that the accused have seven members in total. At the same time, the police are conducting raids to arrest other gang members.

CCTV footage obtained by the police reveals that 90 per cent of the thieves target the latest model cars parked in quiet neighbourhoods. "It takes them hardly a minute to break the mirrors off," a police officer said. He advises people should use car covers as it becomes more difficult for the thief to identify the model of car. Also, thieves don't take the risk of removing car covers, he says.

A used side mirror can fetch Rs6,000 in the back alleys of Magazine Line near the famous Plaza automobile spare parts market. Moreover, a whole network of scavengers exists which supplies stolen side mirrors to buyers in the Sher Shah scrap market.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, September 10^th, 2022.