• 20 incidents of burglary were reported during Dashain holidays last year

Kathmandu, October 3 Police recorded as many as 10 incidents of thefts in Kathmandu Valley during Dashain. Four cases of burglary were reported yesterday alone. Thieves broke into the house of Bed Uprety in Bishalnagar and amde off with cash and gold ornaments worth around Rs 1,70,000. Similarly, goods and valuables worth over Rs 1,25,000 were burgled from the house of Gokarna Karki in Tarkeshwor Municipality. Thieves also broke into the hardware shop of Bhuwan Prasad Aryal in the same municipality and decamped with property worth around Rs 1,45,000. In Palase of Bhkatapur Municipality, cash and valuable worth around Rs 2,84,000 were burgled from the house of Bishnu Rana Magar. Police said sporadic cases of theft were reported in the Valley this Dashain compared to over 20 burglaries last year. An official at Metropolitan Police Office attributed it to a new strategy adopted by the law enforcement agency to combat thefts during the festive season. He said police had quizzed convicted thieves in prisons to extract information about their fellows who were at large. “We interrogated the jailbirds and arrest some of the suspects in advance,” said the official. 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 were deployed in residential areas which look virtually deserted during Dashain holidays as a majority of people left for their home districts to celebrate the festival with their family.