Cases of theft and house break-in have topped the crime list with 38 per cent. While in 2006, 1222 cases of house theft and robbery were reported, 2007 registered 1696 such cases. The detection rate was 24 per cent in both years.

“Most of the robberies and house thefts have occurred at houses which are left empty most of the time during the day as their owners go to work,” said Amar Jadhav, DCP (Crime), Navi Mumbai.

According to Navi Mumbai Police Commissioner Ramrao Wagh, to curb the crime rate in the satellite city two new police stations, namely Kopar Khairane and Kharghar police stations, are coming up by March this year.

“Most of the accused who have been arrested in the house theft cases are migrant workers. These workers keep an eye on their targets (houses) that are vacant in the morning,” said Wagh.

The police said that in some cases security guards provide information to the robbers. To put an end to this, the building societies have been asked to hire the services of security agencies which have been approved by the Navi Mumbai police.

“Earlier, the State security board used to do this work. But now, respective police commissionerates have been assigned to issue licenses to these people,” said Jadhav.

Last year, the registered security agencies with the Navi Mumbai police were only 10. “But this year we have got some 50 applications,” he added.

According to Jadhav, the scanning process of these applications and applicants is stringent with the police looking at the arms licenses, the background of the security men and also the Income Tax returns filed by the security agencies. Besides, the details of the security personnel posted at a certain area is to be provided to the local police station.