KARACHI — Three young men were robbed at gunpoint outside their residence in Karachi’s Korangi area late Tuesday night, marking yet another violent incident in a city increasingly plagued by street crime.
CCTV footage of the incident, which surfaced on social media Wednesday, shows the victims standing near a gate when two unidentified men on a motorcycle approached them. The pillion rider, brandishing a pistol, jumped off the bike and confronted the youths.
The robbers demanded mobile phones and cash. Within seconds, the victims handed over their belongings to avoid escalation. The assailants then sped away, leaving the youths unharmed but shaken.
Local police have registered a case based on the footage, though no arrests have been made. Residents of the neighborhood claim the police response remains sluggish despite a sharp rise in similar incidents over the past month.
Street crime in Karachi has reached a breaking point this year. Official figures suggest thousands of citizens have been deprived of their phones and vehicles in recent months. For many, the brazen nature of these robberies—often occurring in broad daylight or just steps from their front doors—has turned the simple act of standing outside into a risk.
“We don’t feel safe even inside our own street boundaries,” said a neighbor who witnessed the aftermath of Tuesday’s robbery. “The police patrols are nonexistent when you actually need them.”
While authorities frequently announce new crackdowns and “targeted operations” to curb the surge, the frequency of these reports suggests the current security strategy is failing to deter armed gangs.
For the victims in Korangi, the loss of their mobile phones is a financial blow, but the loss of security is what keeps them looking over their shoulders every time they step outside.
