Motorcycle theft wave grips cities across Punjab

PAKISTAN: Though the Punjab government claims that there has been a 65% reduction in crimes due to the formation of the Crime Control Department (CCD), reality tells otherwise, especially motorcycle theft and gunpoint snatching.

Though the rate of crimes varies in different types in Punjab province, there has been an upward trend in the number of motorcycle theft. Over the past decade alone, there have been 650,000 motorcycle theft and snatch cases reported.

Out of these, over 542,000 were motorcycle theft, while more than 93,000 were gunpoint motorcycle snatching cases. It is expected that the actual number of crimes has exceeded the reported numbers greatly.

Analysis of the yearly data reveals an upward trend year after year. In 2016, there were 14,710 theft and 3,550 snatch. For 2017, there were 15,475 thefts and 3,450 snatchings. The theft increased to 18,831 in 2018, while the number of snatchings was 3,536.

The upward trend persisted until 2019 when 23,775 theft and 5,000 gunpoint snatchings took place. In 2020, there were 20,519 thefts and 3,621 gunpoint snatches. However, in 2021, there has been a massive increase with more than 38,000 thefts and 6,800 gunpoint snatchings.

However, motorcycling theft and snatching has been on the rise in Punjab in recent years. Cases of motorcycle theft jumped from 6,350 in 2022 to a record high of 111,200 in 2023, and then up to 133,000 in 2024. In 2025, 75,000 theft cases and 11,000 snatching cases were documented, but by February 2026, 22,000 theft cases and 1,700 snatching cases had occurred.

Lahore witnessed the most cases of motorcycle theft, while Multan, Khanewal, and Bahawalnagar accounted for the most snatching incidents; there were many other cities across Punjab too.

Motorcycle owners have complained about poor recovery rate despite lodging complaints with the police. While some people accused the police of taking bribes and letting thieves free who are arrested in the process, others blamed the police of staging encounters of suspects in which the latter is killed but no motorcycle recovered.

The former Inspector General Muhammad Azam Joya explained that motorcycle theft is prevalent since motorcycles are easy to steal due to inadequate locking system and insufficient camera monitoring of Safe Cities.