Crime rate in capital declined during 2019, claim police.

ISLAMABAD -- The crime rate declined in capital during 2019 due to effective policing measures, hard work of the personnel of the force, and unique initiatives for improvement in performance, claimed the local police on Tuesday.

They said Islamabad police obtained great achievements during the tenure of incumbent Inspector General of Police (IGP) Islamabad Muhammad Aamir Zulfiqar Khan and succeeded to bring decline in crime rate during 2019. Owing to these efforts, Islamabad has been declared as 85th Safest City as per World Crime Index of 328 cities of the world. Its position, as per crime index, has been declared better than Amsterdam, Boston, Toronto and Oslo while United Nations also declared it as a family Station for its staff after 12 years.

The police said that murder cases declined up to 13 per cent in 2019 as compared to the previous year while cases of kidnapping for ransom, dacoity, snatching items and burglary decreased up to 50 per cent, 31 per cent, 13 per cent and 26 per cent respectively. During 2019, 19 blind murder cases were traced and 37 accused involved in these cases were apprehended. These cases mainly included murders of Major Laraib, ten-year old Farishta, Kamishka and Umer Rathor.

Meanwhile, 100 kidnapping cases of children were resolved and they were safely reunited with their families.

As per directions of IGP Islamabad Muhammad Aamir Zulfiqar Khan, special campaign was launched at educational institutions to create awareness among youth against menace of drug, while more recovery of narcotics was made in 2019 as compared to the last year by registering 286 additional cases of wine and drug selling.

Islamabad Police Chief Muhammad Aamir Zulfiqar Khan visited seven educational institutions including universities and colleges and addressed 8,000 students to raise awareness among them against use of narcotics, said a press release issued by Islamabad police.

In 2019, the police provided security to 4,615 national and foreign VVIPs and VIPs, which mainly included the visit of Saudi Crown Prince, British Royal Couple, Prime Minister of Malaysia, Vice President China, Ameer of Qatar, Queen of Netherland and Sri Lankan Cricket team.

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