66pc of vehicle thieves/ snatchers acquitted; laws be made more stringent: SSP AVLC.

KARACHI -- SSP Anti-Vehicle Lifting Cell (AVLC) Rao Muhammad Arif Aslam has stressed that the relevant laws, punishments and fines for vehicles' theft or snatching need to be made more stringent as statistics indicate that 66 percent of the culprits have been acquitted while the remaining 34 percent were convicted by the honorable courts.

'Almost all the acquitted get back on the streets of Karachi to resume their criminal activities while the convicted ones also do the same after completing a very minor sentence or paying petty fines hence, this important issue needs to be addressed on priority by thoroughly reviewing the relevant laws', he added while quoting an example of a particular criminal who immediately stole a bike from outside court premises soon after he was acquitted in a vehicle theft case.

Delivering a presentation to raise awareness on how to handle the situation in case of vehicle theft/ snatching, how to minimize the chances of theft, who to be approached and also the relevant laws, SSP AVLC said, it was a matter of grave concern that the culprits, who deprive the public from their vehicles, particularly motorbikes being used mostly for earning bread and butter, are fined with a mere amount of just Rs500/- to Rs5,000 which was too low and needs to raised. General Secretary Businessmen Group AQ Khalil, Senior Vice President KCCI Saqib Goodluck, Vice President Shamsul Islam Khan, Chairman KCCI's Law and Order Subcommittee Junaid ur Rehman, KCCI Managing Committee Members and a large number of small traders attended the meeting.

SSP AVLC was of the opinion that as it was the business community which runs the economy and contributes substantial amount of revenue to the national exchequer in shape of taxes which are also utilized on paying salaries to policemen, hence the businessmen and industrialists deserve special attention of law enforcement agencies.

He said that it was a challenging task to curtail vehicle theft in a city like Karachi but AVLC was trying its best to improve the situation and was strictly dealing with culprits by initiating crackdowns from time to time in numerous areas to destroy their networks. 'By the end of 2020, around 2.1 million cars while more than 3.5 million motorbikes have also been registered in Karachi but this number will be much higher when bikes registered in other cities are also added as a large number of bikes from other cities are also plying in the city. Around 228 cars and 849...

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