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Regular-article-logo Monday, 07 July 2025

2 cars a day for Assam thieves

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PANKAJ SARMA Published 30.06.10, 12:00 AM

Guwahati, June 29: Auto theft continues to be one of the most common crimes in Assam’s capital with two vehicles stolen on an average everyday.

Altogether 321 vehicles, including scooters and motorcycles, have been stolen from the city this year and most of them have been lifted from the Dispur police station area.

According to data available with police, from January till the first week of June, 65 auto theft cases were registered at Dispur police station followed by 42 cases at Chandmari, 32 at Jalukbari and 26 at Basistha police station.

The men in khaki have not been able to curb the menace despite their claims of intensifying vigil against theft of vehicles.

The situation was no different last year as of the 1,801 vehicles stolen from the state, 832 were lifted from the city.

A police official claimed that the police had busted several vehicle-lifting gangs at regular intervals and arrested the thieves. He, however, said the thieves after coming out of jail on bail take recourse to the crime.

“Moreover, there are many new entrants. So it is difficult to book them all,” the official said. According to him, the fact that an increasing number of youths, including students, are involving themselves in vehicle lifting is a worrying trend. “In many cases it has been found that they have become vehicle thieves as they need money to support their lavish lifestyle and it has put the police in a tight spot,” the official said.

He said police alone cannot prevent vehicle thefts as there are a huge number of vehicles in the city and the owners need to install anti-theft devices, which can go a long way in preventing the menace.

“For instance, a global positioning system (GPS) tracking device can be installed in the car, which will help police to trace the vehicle in the event of its theft or any other mishap,” the official said.

“Another problem as far as auto theft is concerned is the inter-state links of the vehicle-lifting gangs. For busting such gangs, sharing of real-time information across police stations in different states is very essential, which is not always possible because of various constraints,” he said.

The official said the Union ministry of home affairs had sanctioned a project — Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems — for linking all the police stations in the country under a single network.

“The sharing of real-time information is expected to improve once the system becomes functional as it will enable the police to have access to an up-to-date database and increase the rate of detection of crimes, including car thefts,” he said.

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