The Quick Response Force comprises 100 police personnel

KARACHI: A Quick Response Force has been constituted to help curb the recent surge in street crimes and bank robberies in the city?s District East.

The force comprises 100 police personnel who have been provided 45 motorbikes and police mobile vans to patrol vulnerable areas, said SSP Karachi East Irfan Baloch.

The metropolis has seen a rise in incidents of bank heists and street crimes over the past few months. With three banks robbed this month alone, a total of eight banks have been looted so far this year, and only one heist was foiled back in April. Five bank-related muggings have been committed since July 18, according to a report in The News.

Quick Response Force

On July 18, a man was deprived of Rs950,000 on Tariq Road on his way back from his office after withdrawing the cash from the bank. During the same month, a gang of robbers looted Rs1.3 million from a filling station?s employee on his way to the bank.

This month, a group of robbers snatched Rs100,000 from a man when he returned to his showroom after withdrawing the money from the bank.

Two similar muggings were reported soon after. A man was deprived of Rs200,000 near Godam Chowrangi in Korangi on his way back home from the bank, while a bag full of cash was snatched from an intending pilgrim on Dalmia Road on his way back from the bank.

Earlier this month, law enforcers met to discuss and devise strategies to tackle the muggings, after acknowledging that street crime had emerged as a top security issue in the city.