Snatch theft is on the rise in Malaysia

On February 14, a 48-year-old woman was robbed inside an elevator of an MRT station in Cheras. The victim was kicked and punched by the suspect. The CCTV recording of the incident later went viral on the Internet.

On February 21, another snatch theft occurred in Kuala Lumpur. This time the victim is a police officer. The detective sergeant’s handbag was snatch by a motorcyclist along the road of Jalan Sultan Sulaiman.

Looking at the property crime statistic in Malaysia, snatch theft has a sudden increase from 2,362 cases reported in 2015 to 2,963 cases in 2016. Additionally, Kuala Lumpur has the second highest amount of property crime at 12,950 cases reported. The first is Selangor with 24,612 cases in total. This indicate that property crime is rampant in the Klang Valley.

Meanwhile, Johor also has a high amount of similar crime with 10,121 incidents reported. Besides, another developed state, Penang has 5,078 cases, which is consider high when compared with the largest state in Malaysia, Pahang which only has 3,126 cases.

Does urban poverty play a part in the high amount of property crimes?