Daylight thefts on the rise in Valley

Kathmandu, February 28

Kathmandu Valley has recorded as many as 503 incidents of theft since the beginning of this fiscal year.

The figure has already surpassed total 468 cases of the previous fiscal 2015/16 and continues to go up. Property crimes, especially theft, are steadily rising in the Valley and this should sound an alarm for denizens to take extra precaution while they are away from home.

SP Pradhyumna Kumar Karki at Metropolitan Police Range, Kathmandu said over 50 per cent of the crime took place in broad daylight in unattended houses and rented rooms of working families. The burglars usually make off with cash, and salable goods like gold and electronic gadgets.

According to SP Karki, daytime burglaries will decrease 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.

A figure released by Metropolitan Police Office, Ranipokhari said 82 cases of theft were reported in the month of Shrawan(mid-July to mid-August, 66 in Bhadra (mid-August to mid-September), 82 in Ashoj (mid-September to mid-October), 55 in Kartik (mid-October to mid-November), 56 in Mangsir (mid-November to mid-December), 77 in Poush (mid-December to mid-January), 53 in Magh (mid-January to mid-February) and 32 during the first half of Falgun (mid-February to February 25).

Police said burglars targeted both attended and unattended houses during the rainy season (mid-July to mid-October).

Monsoon is an ideal time for burglars as people cannot hear much of anything other than the sound of rain drops falling on objects. Report states criminals have been making houses and rooms their soft target during office hours when the house owners and tenants leave their abode for daily work.

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, fraud and kidnapping of late, they have not been able to curb property crime effectively.

Meanwhile, police said they nabbed over 70 persons involved in thefts during the period. Many of them are repeat offenders.