Crime spree before Eid

A rise in crime before the Eid holidays has been a common phenomenon for many years. This Eid, cattle traders have become a prime target. Saturday's audacious hijacking of 15 cows from a truck near Manik Mia Avenue by a machete-wielding gang indicates the absence of proper patrolling by the law enforcers in the main roads. In this incident the truck was ambushed by the gang that forced some of the truck occupants into a minivan and beat them up while some of the other robbers took off with the truck. 

There have been similar incidents of cattle robbing in the last few days with traders and their staff being made unconscious with drugs, beaten and even killed before the cattle was stolen. Needless to say, these traders, apart from the physical and mental trauma of being robbed and assaulted, will have to go home empty-handed this Eid and with debilitating monetary losses. 

What's more, traders of cattle have to pay huge amounts of extortion money to various groups before they reach the market. There are allegations that certain deviant law enforcers are also part of such extortion. The number of extortion points and the amount demanded increase significantly before Eid, extracting a heavy financial toll on cattle traders and truck drivers.

It is unacceptable that despite assurances from law enforcement agencies and the government of beefing up security during Eid, such crimes should go on unabated.

While there must be greater presence and vigilance of police patrols on highways and main roads, effective measures have to be taken by law enforcement authorities to stop the pernicious spread of extortionists, in uniform or not.