After frequent car thefts in Dobrinja 5, residents ask: Who is more powerful, the car theft ring or the Sarajevo Canton Ministry of Interior?

Residents of the Dobrinja 5 settlement in Trg grada Prato and Sulejmana Filipovića streets are determined to organize themselves and try to prevent almost daily car thefts, since the Sarajevo Canton Ministry of Interior cannot, writes the BH News Agency Patria.

A group of citizens who contacted Patria agency states that the police issue them fines for parking on the street and direct them to leave their cars in a nearby parking lot. However, the problem is that this parking lot has no security guards nor is it lit, which suits the thieves anyway.

- Almost every night, a vehicle is stolen. And when we call the Sarajevo Canton Ministry of Interior, they say they are powerless in the fight against the car theft ring – says one young man, who states that he wonders every morning if he will find his car in the parking lot.

Incidentally, this parking lot was built in 2013 to temporarily solve the parking problem due to the construction of a new residential building, and the plan was to build a multi-story parking garage. However, even two years later, this idea has not been realized.

On the other hand, citizens are ready to organize themselves and hire guards.

- There are also expensive cars that are targeted by the car theft ring. We wonder if the police are really powerless or if there is something else going on. It is impossible for so many vehicles to be stolen without the thieves being traced. Sarajevo is a relatively small city, surely the police have their sources – wonder the indignant residents of Dobrinja 5.

As Patria learns, last week on Friday, an Audi A3 was stolen from this settlement while the owner was visiting a friend.

Even more disheartening is the fact that the car theft ring literally "waits" for potential victims, as several cars have already been stolen from the bus stop extension in Dobrinja 5. The moment the driver gets out for a few seconds to go to a nearby kiosk, thieves who are observing the situation from their car seize the moment and drive away with the car.