Balochistan, rural Sindh, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are some of the places where motorcycles were stolen from Karachi city end up. Recently, the Anti-Car Lifting Cell (ACLC) of police arrested a gang member involved in stealing and then selling motorcycles. The ACLC traced the person in Sohrab Goth using his mobile data. The arrested gang member divulged information on how these motorcycles are being stolen and transported to various areas, especially Balochistan. This person has been stealing motorcycles since 2010 and started selling stolen bikes since 2015. He was arrested approximately 30 times in the past, and he managed to get out every time either due to delays in FIR or absence of any witnesses.
The person contacts a middleman after stealing motorbikes who further sells the stolen motorcycles in Khuzdar, Balochistan. The rates are standard for stolen bikes. The Honda CG125 gets PKR 35,000, Honda CD70 gets 25,000, and 70cc Chinese bikes get PKR 10,000. Since there is no proper checking of bikes from Karachi till Larkana, the stolen bikes go from Karachi to Jamshoro, Sehwan, and Dadu all the way to Larkana. Another route that stolen bikes take includes Nooriabad, Thana Bullah Khan, Thatta, and Jhimpir. DSP Police from Kotri area also claimed to have recovered many stolen motorbikes. Stolen bikes are sold for as little as PKR 2,000 in areas of Sindh like Keti Bandar. In the case of interior Sindh, stolen bikes usually get PKR 10,000. Another popular destination for stolen bikes is Mirpur Sakro.
Many police stations in Balochistan have a plethora of stolen bikes that originate from the Karachi area. Many checkpoints in the outskirts of Karachi now have started vigilantly checking motorbikes, even those that are carrying children and women. Motobike thieves usually use children and women as a cover to hide their crimes. The gangs that stole motorbikes from Karachi use rural areas and unpaved roads to enter Balochistan from Sindh. The Police do not usually patrol these roads. For most of the year, the Hub River is dry and is used by these gangs to transport stolen motorbikes to Balochistan.
Moreover, if you are lucky enough to locate your stolen motorbike in Balochistan, it is cumbersome to get it back to Karachi. Usually, people have to go to Lasbella and file a case in court there. Once that is done, the same thing has to be done in Karachi as well. The law enforcement agencies need not only stop motorbikes from being stolen and transported to Balochistan but also to make the process of getting these bikes back easier for their true owners. The Police also need to be more vigilant on the Super Highway to isolate stolen bikes.
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Balochistan and interior Sindh has always been much lawless.
In addition to catching the street criminal, police must also catch the mastermind and political support behind it. And also catch the customer. The customer is not innocent, he/she fully well knows that motorcycle being bought at a price below the “cost of production” is a stolen one.
The “innocent villagers” are simple and hospitable but their moral values are low enough to buy goods stolen by their ilk from “innocent city-dwellers”.
Another issue is punishment: Police are always catching criminals, but they seldom get punished. Likewise this criminal also got arrested 30 times but never got due punishment although he potentially got enough beatings and 3rd degree torture (not mentioned in article) in lock-up to convert him into even more hardy criminal.