UP cops go for NVDs to stop highway robberies

Lucknow, May 4: With incidents of highway robberies on the rise, police in Uttar Pradesh have decided to buy night vision devices (NVDs) to counter the criminal gangs who target passing vehicles on dark highway stretches.

The problem is more alarming in parts of West UP and Bundelkhand region, officials at the DGP office said here.

Some of the districts have already been provided with NVDs. ''As of now not many sets have been purchased...let our men get accustomed with the devices then police may go in for more purchases,'' said a senior police officer.

Police personnel involved in anti-dacoit operations in the ravines of the Chambal and the Special Task Force (STF) had been using similar devices. But it would be for the first time that district police units carrying out routine highway patrols would use night vision goggles.

Highway robbers often use lonely highway stretches at night to target vehicles, including cars with a few occupants or trucks, which are not moving in a convoy.

There had been incidents when robbers hiding behind vegetation and wild growth have used chains, metal rods and even stones to distract the driver. Inexperienced drivers often mistake the sound to be from the vehicle's engine, stop, and get looted - and in some cases killed by ruthless gangsters.

Policemen often blame the surrounding vegetations and jungles, which help the criminals, escape under the cover of darkness. But with the purchase of NVDs, cops can keep a watch on gangs planning crimes near highways.

''In fact what we require is stringent patrolling, especially on dark nights NVDs can only help if cops move out for patrolling,'' an officer quipped.

UNI