Kathmandu, July 28

Cases of theft, loot and burglary are steadily rising in the Kathmandu Valley and this necessitates extra precaution, especially when people are away from home.

An annual figure maintained by the Metropolitan Police Office shows that the Valley recorded 531 incidents of property crime in the fiscal 2015/16 against 468 in the previous fiscal.

More than 50 per cent of the crime took place in broad daylight in unattended houses and rented rooms of working families.

The month of July witnessed 43 cases of theft, loot and burglary, while 64 theft cases were reported in August, 44 in September, 38 in October, 43 in November, 49 in December, 34 in January, 34 in February, 47 in March, 25 in April 25, 51 in May and 59 in June in the last fiscal.

Investigators said burglars targeted both attended and unattended houses during the rainy season.

Monsoon is an ideal time for such offenders as people cannot hear much of anything other than the sound of rain drops falling on objects.

June, the month when the monsoon begins, recorded the second highest 59 cases of property crime the last fiscal.

Report states 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.

They 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.

According to investigators, daytime burglaries will decrease only if the house owners or tenants take care of their cash and valuables or put then in banks and do not leave their houses unattended and install security systems.

Police said they were having a tough time dealing with property crimes due to involvement of the same groups and persons in burglaries after doing time in jail or being released on bail.

More than 20 per cent of the burglars turn out to be repeat offenders, thanks to the provision of lenient punishment in such cases.