Officials Warn of Increase in Theft Gangs Due to Poverty and Unemployment

Iranian officials attribute the intensification of “theft gangs” stealing from homes and vehicles in the country to factory shutdowns, increasing youth unemployment, rising economic inequality, and the impoverishment of families.

Statistics from Tehran’s police intelligence unit alone show that over 193 car theft gangs were arrested in the first ten months of 2018.

Alirezza Lotfi, head of Tehran’s police intelligence unit, confirmed the “increase” in car thefts and stated that police operations against these theft gangs increased by approximately 22 percent compared to 2017.

He did not provide explanation for the increase in the number of these gangs, but stated that police seizures from the hideouts of these thieves increased by nearly 16 percent compared to 2017.

Police statistics in the capital and provincial centers also indicate an increase in theft and various crimes, such that in just the first six months of 2018, six million and 500 thousand phone calls reporting incidents were made to the capital police, of which operational officers intervened in 3,600 cases.

Higher Poverty Line, More Crimes

The parliamentary research center attributed the increase in theft and crime to the impoverishment of families and youth unemployment, particularly educated youth, and announced that the poverty line rose between spring 2017 and 2018 by 9 to 11 percent across different regions of Iran.

Iranian news agencies, citing representatives and economic and labor activists, compare poverty in cities and villages to “an unbridled horse” that tramples on family life and causes crime to develop under unsuitable and “constrained” conditions.

Hassan Lotfi, a member of Iran’s parliamentary social commission, links the increase in theft, violence, divorce, and addiction in the country to rising social inequality and “ineffective management” by officials.

Some, like Habib-Allah Keshtzar, a parliamentary representative, question the neglect of youth and ask: “Have people’s homes gradually become psychiatric institutions for youth?”

This parliamentary representative told country officials that the “main threat” to Iran today is not Trump and ISIS, but unemployment and poverty.

Theft in “Prevailing Economic Conditions”

Poverty and the closure of many workshops and factories in recent months have been identified as the root cause of many social harms and crime.

Hamayoun Hashemi, a member of the Hope faction in parliament, points to factory closures and the formation of some protests and labor strikes, attributing people’s and workers’ protests to “hunger and poverty.”

Previously, Iran’s chief prosecutor reported an increase in theft statistics in the country, attributing it to “prevailing economic conditions” and unemployment as reasons for the growth of theft.

According to Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, Iran’s chief prosecutor, based on statistics from the judiciary and law enforcement, theft with a growth rate of 19 percent ranks second after drug-related crimes among the country’s crimes.

Montazeri considered factory and workshop closures among the structural factors in the increase of theft and warned officials that “the current state of society” economically causes an increase in crime.

In recent months, many workers in Iran, including sugarcane workers from Haft Tappeh in Khuzestan, Isfahan Steel Factory workers, and dozens of other workshops and factories, protested the closure of workplaces and non-payment of their overdue wages.

Ismail Bakhshi, one of the spokespersons of Haft Tappeh sugarcane plant, during these labor protests, referred to the social harms caused by unemployment and family poverty, and asked officials whether they could tolerate their family members going without food for a day.

Current poverty-alleviation policies of Hassan Rouhani’s government, such as the 45,500-toman subsidy and commodity basket distribution that has recently been accompanied by long lines for frozen meat distribution, have, according to parliamentary research center experts, so far failed to help families. Everyone agrees that a new plan must be implemented.

Source: DW