Commenting on the findings, Monis Rahman, CEO ROZEE.PK, said, "This survey provides great insights into the crime patterns developing across our country. There are numerous factors that these stats can be attributed to, such as the rising unemployment along with the ever increasing cost of living. This is another one of ROZEE.PK's surveys that reveals a lot about what our society is going through at a macro level. Despite the troubling trends, it is heartening to see that our law enforcement agencies are actually trying to keep up pace with the growing crime for instance in Karachi, seven percent of the reported cellphone thefts were successfully recovered and one in five people who lost phone in Islamabad recovered their phone, making this city having the highest recovery rate."
Respondent across Pakistan were asked to report if they have been a victim to any of the four types of thefts ie cellphone, wallet/identity, vehicle and house robbery. More than 1,000 respondents across 88 cities in Pakistan took the survey and 80 percent respondents across Pakistan reported being a victim of at least one type of theft. 90 percent of respondents who became victims of robbery were males; the percentage of female victims is highest in Islamabad-Rawalpindi of the four top cities.
Of the theft cases reported by the respondents, 54 percent were cellphone thefts, 22 percent wallet thefts, 13 percent house robberies, and 10 percent vehicle thefts. Contrary to popular perception, Karachi (71 percent) a majority of respondents from both Islamabad (35 percent) and Lahore (45 percent) reported cellphone thefts as the most common theft amongst other given types.
Of the stolen vehicles, a majority of bikes (58 percent) were reported to have been the target of robbers than cars (42 percent) nation-wide. A whopping 47 percent of stolen bikes were reported to be Honda CD70, whereas 24 percent were Honda CG125 worth an average Rs 60,000. Of the stolen cars, 40 percent were cheaper cars (Suzuki) worth less than Rs 500,000 whereas 42 percent were more expensive cars (Toyota, Honda) worth an average of Rs 750,000.
The ratio of house robberies occurring in broad daylight is much higher in case of house robberies unlike the cases of cellphone/wallet snatchings and vehicle thefts. 22 percent house break-ins took place in the morning, the percentage highest across all three types of thefts. 65 percent house robberies in Karachi, 55 percent in Islamabad, and 42 percent in Lahore took place before sunset.
The top three areas where most cellphone thefts have occurred in Lahore are Johar Town, Township and Gulshan-Ravi while Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Sharah-e-Faisal, Gulistan-e-Johar and Nazimabad in Karachi. Surprisingly, a substantially large number of thefts have occurred near the victim's house. The second top spot where most robberies have taken place are the traffic signals. A massive 93 percent cellphone and wallet snatchings each in Karachi and 86 percent cellphone thefts in Lahore were committed at gunpoint.
A meager 30 percent of cellphone robberies, 46 percent wallet snatchings, 86 percent vehicle thefts and 72 percent house robberies were reported to the Police by the victims. 24 percent victims of cellphone robberies nation-wide now report they keep a spare cellphone in fear the one they have is snatched from them again. This rate is consistent across all four cities ie Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad and Rawalpindi.-PR