Witching hours of carlifting in Delhi: 9pm-3am

If you are car owner in the national capital, these are the three things you need to remember — two cars are robbed on Delhi’s streets every week; three in every four car robberies take place in areas bordering Haryana; and half of all these robberies take place during a six-hour period between 9pm and 3am.

An analysis of car robberies reported in Delhi between January 2017 and August 2018 showed that guns were used to threaten drivers in half of these incidents.

The robbers usually stage road rage quarrels with their intended targets, or simply someone waiting at a traffic signal. On other occasions, robbers stop drivers on the excuse of asking for directions. In the worst cases, the data showed, robbers posed as passengers to rob cabbies of their cars.

The 20-month data shows that a total of 177 carjacking incidents were reported in Delhi. One in every two stolen cars was recovered, thanks to the “prompt response” by police, who considerer car robberies a “heinous crime”.

One such response was seen in Rohini last September when multiple police teams chased a stolen Toyota Fortuner for 20 kilometres before nabbing the suspects and recovering the car near the Haryana border within 30 minutes of the crime.

Data shows that 22 cars were stolen between 9pm and 10pm, another 15 between 10pm and 11pm and 20 over the next hour. The next three hours, from midnight to 3 am, were the witching hours for carjackers — 47 cars were stolen during this time.

Carjackings were fewer between 5am and 5pm only 32 cars were stolen during this time, a mere 18% of all car robberies.

Ved Marwah, former Delhi Police chief, said night hours are preferred by carjackers as light traffic provides for easy escape. Police said most carjackers find it easy to drive into Haryana. Data showed that 74% (131) of all car robberies took place in five police districts of Dwarka, Rohini, southwest, outer and south. “All five districts borders Haryana. Many carjackers arrested in the past belong to that state,” a senior police officer said.

An officer from the crime branch said carjackers are organised — they mostly target vehicles based on demands of potential customers.

In the sedan category, Swift Dzires (19) were the most preferred. “Dzires are mostly used as cabs. Robbers find it easy to pose as passengers and then steal them,” the officer explained.

Madhur Verma, Delhi Police spokesperson, said they have managed to reduce carjacking incidents in the past few months by introducing “integrated pickets” in neighbourhoods where these incidents are most frequent. “We are patrolling stretches of Outer Ring Road, the Ridge Road and roads leading to Haryana,” Verma said.

Every now and then, police are helped by technology. Verma said having tracking devices, like the GPS does help, but only if installed intelligently.

“Unfortunately, many robbers know how to remove/disable GPS,” he said.

First Published: Apr 04, 2019 04:39 IST