“It was after dusk. I was driving home but I got stuck in a traffic gridlock. Moments later, a young man cocked a pistol and began banging at my window. Fear instantly consumed me, I rolled down the window, and he demanded my cell phone and wallet. Before I could move, he forced the cold muzzle of the pistol against my forehead. As I nervously began to empty my pockets, he thrust his hand and removed my wrist watch. Before I could recover, he vanished into the traffic. I lost Rs70,000 in cash and kind.”

This is the story of many a Karachiite, the tale of falling prey to a mugging at traffic intersections. These are occurrence of late evenings, when darkness begins to set in, and continues well into late night, targeting commuters trying to go home or even students travelling in buses. Dark streets and “not so well lit” service lanes are described by police officials as active sites of mugging.

A recently-compiled internal research paper of the Central Police Office (CPO) has identified 25 such roundabouts where muggings have become almost routine because of persisting traffic gridlocks.

Muggings and cellphone theft may not be considered major crimes, but controlling them is a crucial first step towards tackling larger issues

“These roundabouts are located in the four districts of East, West, Central and South. All of them are common thoroughfares,” reads the document. “They all have different set of problems: some are narrow, others require better road management.”

But all these points have one commonality: they are all without adequate lighting arrangements.

“The Citizen Police Liaison Committee (CPLC) has also identified 100 trouble spots in Karachi that serve as the theatres of city urchins,” says CPLC chief Ahmad Chinoy, arguing that street crimes are among the most under-reported in Karachi. His argument is laced with numbers: in 2013, 22,033 cell phones were snatched. This figure rose to 31,288 in 2014, while 8,309 cell phones have been reported stolen till March 2015.

“Due to the operation in Karachi, many criminals involved in organised crime have switched to street crime. There have also been reported cases where those previously involved in car and motorcycle theft are now indulging in cell phone theft,” says Chinoy. “It is far easier to handle and conceal cell phones than a car. It is relatively quick money too; if an iPhone or an Android phone is stolen, it will easily fetch up to Rs15,000 in the market.”

There was a time in Karachi when cell phones were sold at particular markets, but over time, newer and smaller markets burgeoned and prospered.

"Due to the operation in Karachi, many criminals involved in organised crime have switched to street crime. There have also been reported cases where those previously involved in car and motorcycle theft are now indulging in cell phone theft.

“Stolen cell phones are available in some shops of the cell phone markets in Orangi Town, North Karachi, Buffer Zone, Gulistan-i-Johar, Saddar and Korangi,” says Murad Hussain, a cell phone franchise owner. “A dealer usually purchases stolen property for up to Rs10,000, and resells it for an amount between Rs15,000 and Rs20,000, usually as a smuggled item.”

Another mode of sale and purchase, the franchise owner explains, is buying per bag.

“Each bag might have 50-60 phones of different types and brands; each bag might sell for anything between Rs5,000 and Rs10,000. The expensive iPhones and Androids fetch Rs20,000-25,000,” claims Hussain.

“If the phones are in good condition, iPhones and Androids are also smuggled in baggage to Iran, Dubai, Afghanistan and some African countries,” adds Chinoy.

Perhaps the ugliest part of street crimes is when a robbery goes wrong and a victim is shot at or killed during the incident. In more recent trends, young men and novices have taken to cell-phone snatching, but they are often jittery, nervous and fearful of the police pursuing them. In this frame of mind, if they misjudge a victim’s reaction, the trigger of the handgun gets pulled,” says a local police officer.

“Most of the time, 30 bore pistols are used for crimes in Karachi and now the 9mm is also in vogue. The biggest problem in the locally produced hand guns is they do not have safety pins to prevent accidental firing. In panic, the pistol goes off, resulting in murder,” explains the officer.

Another mode of sale and purchase, the franchise owner explains, is buying per bag. “Each bag might have 50-60 phones of different types and brands; each bag might sell for anything between Rs5,000 and Rs10,000. The expensive iPhones and Androids fetch Rs20,000-25,000,” claims Hussain.

The picture of Karachi’s street crime is reflective of New York. Two decades ago, when New York mayor Robert Giuliani and police commissioner Bill Brandton declared zero tolerance for petty crime in their city, they devised a “Broken Window” campaign against vandalism and anti social behaviour. The underlying concept was if petty crimes are stopped, delinquent behaviour would be largely eliminated and bigger crimes would never place.

The nature of crime was similar too: the people of New York were troubled by crimes at the underground subway terminals, and like Karachi, at streets with insufficient light. Criminal elements would also tear down street light to hide their activities and would spray graffiti on the walls to mark their turf.

The New York police saw to it that the destroyed bulbs were replaced and the graffiti wiped clean. They did not stop there: at bus stops, they would quiz those loitering around and escort them to a police station if they could not offer a reasonable explanation. Similarly, travelling without paying the fare would also not go unpunished. With these steps, New York, which was notorious for crimes during the 1990s, has now turned into one of the more peaceful cities of the United States.

Following the US experience, the Pakistani model to tackle petty crime in Karachi can begin with expressing no tolerance for traffic violations. In order to make certain traffic gridlocks do not occur, the “VIP culture” of blocking roads needs to be done away with, since blocking one road leads to a cascading effect on all thoroughfares.

If traffic jams are prevented in Karachi and adequate lighting is ensured at these 25 choking points, muggings could be made difficult and perhaps even thwarted. The power utility of the city could be involved to ensure that these “vulnerable points” remain well-lit. Local communities can be mobilised too and asked to arrange UPS’s or generators.

Police patrolling can be increased, and cops deployed at vantage points to intercept and engage any suspicious person or one in possession of weapons. The Sindh or city government can help by installing functional CCTVs and centrally monitoring the situation.

Meanwhile, while there is a public drive underway to register SIMs, there is little in the way of a crackdown against the sale and use of stolen cell phones. A campaign was launched previously against shops selling stolen merchandise, but market associations rose in protest and the campaign lost steam. Collective punishment to the cell phone market associations would be helpful in ensuring that stolen property is not resold.

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, March 29th, 2015

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