IDLIB, Syria (North Press) – Thefts have increased in IDPs’ camps in Idlib, northwest Syria, according to the displaced, who linked them to the lack of accountability and leniency by the security services of the Salvation Government, the political wing of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS, formerly al-Nusra Front).
In one week, the main street of Karama camp witnessed more than 20 robberies, residents interviewed by North Press said.
According to the residents, despite the police inspecting the sites of the theft and conducting investigations, they have not announced the arrest of the perpetrators until today.
Dozens of thefts
On October 13, a shop of household electronic devices on the aforementioned street was robbed, which cost more than $5,000.
Abdullqader al-Sayed, the shop owner, said that the thieves broke into the shop and loaded most of the electrical appliances.
He indicates that he showed the video footages of the surveillance cameras to the police station near the camp, but until today it has not been able to arrest the thieves, although some of them were uncovered.
In September, Maryam Abdo, a displaced widow in the Habit camp, north of Idlib, was surprised by a 16-year-old young man trying to steal the contents of her tent.
She said that she started screaming, and then her neighbors heard the voice and were able to catch him.
The woman indicated that the thief immediately confessed to stealing dozens of houses, when the residents handed him over to the police.
However, a few days later, they were surprised that the thief was released on the pretext that he was under age.
Abdo added that she later learned that the thief’s family had paid a sum of money to release their son.
Meanwhile, the police did not respond to the victims’ inquiries about the reason for releasing the thief, according to Abdo.
No accountability
For the second time, Osama Hamadin, a displaced person from Ma’arat al-Nu’man in Karama camps, had his motorcycle stolen.
Hamadin said, he submitted several complaints to the police station in the town of Qah, north of Idlib, but all in vain.
“Once the thief is caught, one of his accomplices pays a sum of money to the security services, and he is released immediately, even without being tried.”
The IDPs camps on the Syrian-Turkish border, north of Idlib, include about 1,300 camps, including 400 squatter camps, inhabited by more than one and a half million displaced Syrians, according to the latest statistics of the Syria Response Coordinators team.
According to residents, in less than one month, more than 15 vehicles, including motorcycles and cars, were stolen.
Leniency with thieves
Residents hold the Salvation Government and HTS, which controls the area, the responsibility of the chaos, which become unbearable.
The neglect of the police and their leniency with the thieves prompted some of the residents in the camps to form small groups to guard the camp at night instead of the security services, in an attempt to alleviate those cases, according to Hamadin.
Samer Dahrouj, an IDP in al-Ezza camp on the Syrian-Turkish border near Atma, believes that the reason for the increase in theft cases is the lack of oversight, and the leniency of the controlling authorities with the thieves and the failure to punish them in a manner equal to the crime they committed.