RAWALPINDI: The sense of security in the garrison city is deteriorating fast as more than 100 incidents of crime were reported to the police on Saturday, including 17 robberies that resulted in two casualties.

In these incidents, two people were shot and injured in 17 robberies, 36 people were deprived of their motorcycles, 36 lost their mobile phones, and a large sum of money was taken away by unidentified culprits.

In a comment about the spike in crime, an old resident of the city said he felt “unsafe” being outdoors, as the robbers and thieves were not even sparing “poor people”, as they had been targeting them and snatching petty cash.

For instance, two brothers, residents of Satellite Town, were shot and injured by two unidentified robbers while they were heading towards a nearby mosque to offer Maghrib prayer. The robbers took away cash and mobile phones.

Farhan Javaid lodged an FIR with the New Town police, saying that he was going to a mosque with his brother Adnan Javaid when they were intercepted by two persons who held them at gunpoint, robbed them of cash and cell phones, and also shot and injured them before fleeing.

Three people were injured after being tortured by a gang of four robbers while they were going to Kallar Syedan. Abdul Rehman lodged an FIR with the police on Saturday, saying that they were going to Kallar Syedan in their car when they found the road blocked near Palala. As they stopped their car, four unidentified persons carrying weapons held them at gunpoint.

He said that the robbers started beating all of them. One of the robbers hit Hamza on the head with a pistol, which left him injured. Later, they grabbed Rs49,000 from them before disappearing from the scene.

Muhammad Kamran, a resident of Adiala Road, lodged an FIR with the Saddar Bairooni police, saying that some unidentified burglars broke into his house in the absence of his family and stole Rs400,000 and gold jewellery worth Rs1.1 million.

Noman Farooq was robbed of Rs2600 by two unidentified robbers after he left his house for Sehri in the airport police area, while Anwarul Hassan was robbed of cash by an unidentified motorcycle rider in Chaklala Scheme III.

Qasir Mehmood was robbed of Rs152,000 by two unidentified robbers in the Naseerabad area, while Shahzaib was robbed of Rs90,000 by two unidentified robbers in the same area. Meanwhile, Raja Kamal Haider’s car was stolen from a Cantt area.

Malik Mohsin, Muhammad Sohail, Ishfaq Shah, Ali Javaid, Ijaz Ali, Sami ul Haq, Amir Shahzad, Muhammad Imran, Muhammad Bilal Ali, Awais Ahmad and Muhammad Zareef were among the 36 victims of the ‘motorcycle crime’.

In Islamabad, three police officials were robbed of their cell phones by two unidentified motorcycle riders in sector G-7/3 on Saturday. The Aabpara police have registered a complaint by Ali Bajwa and started a hunt for the culprits.

Published in Dawn, March 24th, 2025