Crime rate has increased up to 30 percent—with a concentration in Kabul, Nangarhar, Herat, and Balkh—over the first four months of this year compared to last year, the Ministry of Interior's (MoI) Criminal Investigation Department (CID) reported.

The news comes as the CID recently reported of the arrest of a five-member abductor group who had kidnapped and stifled an 18-month-old infant.

"When the baby's family could not pay the ransom, the kidnappers suffocated the baby with their bare hands," Head of CID Syed Abdul Ghafar Syed Zada said. "It is one of the most tragic incidents in the history of crime."

The group of kidnappers consisted of two women and three men. They have confessed to their crimes, saying that they sought revenge since the baby's family had killed one of their family members.

"After we kidnapped the baby, my friends told me that if we do not kill the baby, they will kill me and my family," one of the criminals Shamsul Rahman said. "They forced me to do it."

Syed Zada has asked the legal and judicial organs to react seriously to the case.

"We demand that the legal and judicial organs give tough punishment to such individuals," he exclaimed. "One day this could happen to their children. Today they are targeting others, tomorrow others will target them."

Over the last week, 224 criminal cases have been registered across the country.