Police adopt new strategy to combat thefts

Kathmandu, September 19

Police have adopted a new strategy to combat thefts during the festive season.

Police said they were quizzing convicted thieves in prisons in Kathmandu Valley to extract information about their fellows who were at large. “We are interrogating jailbirds to trace the suspects and arrest them in advance,” said SSP Rabindra Bahadur Dhanuk, in-charge at Metropolitan Police Range, Kathmandu.

Police said they were having a tough time dealing with property crimes due to involvement of same groups and persons in burglaries after doing time in jail or being released on bail. More than 40 per cent of the burglars turn out to be repeat offenders, thanks to the provision of lenient punishment in such cases.

In addition, special teams would be deployed in residential areas which look virtually deserted during Dashain as the majority of people leave for their home districts to celebrate the festival with their family.

“We are also working in close coordination with anti-theft section of Metropolitan Police Crime Division, while keeping suspected jewellery stores under surveillance to ensure the arrest of thieves at the time of selling stolen gold ornaments,” he informed.

Reports state that criminals have been making houses and rooms their soft target during office hours when the house owners and tenants leave their abode for day-to-day business. Cases of burglary are likely to increase during Dashain and Tihar.

“Shops at main marketplaces and city areas are also closed for the festival. There is less traffic on the roads and the movement of people is also sparse and the criminal elements capitalise on carelessness of people,” SSP Dhanuk warned.

Thieves usually make off with cash and salable goods like gold and electronic gadgets. While the law enforcement agency has made modest gains in the fight against organised crimes such as trade in small arms, extortion, forgery and peddling of drugs, explosives, fraud and kidnapping of late, they have not been able to curb property crime effectively.

Burglaries can be controlled only if house owners or tenants take care of their cash and valuables or put them in banks and do not leave their houses unattended and install security systems, MPR said.