ISLAMABAD: A domestic worker stole antiques worth around Rs20 million ($72,438) from the residence of a member of the former Nawab of Bahawalpur’s family in Islamabad, police said on Sunday, amid a spike in burglaries in the Pakistani capital.

The development comes amid a wave of robberies and burglaries in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, with criminals getting away with cash, precious valuables and historical treasures worth more than Rs34 million ($123,145) in eight incidents, Pakistani media reported this week, citing police.

Several antiques and heirlooms belonging to the family of former Nawab of Bahawalpur had been stolen from the residence of Prince Bahawal Abbas Khan Abbasi, son of Nawab Salahuddin Abbasi, in Islamabad’s upscale F-8/3 sector.

The stolen items reportedly included a silver throne chair, silver ladders, bowls, gold plates, statues, Bahawalpur-crested gold items, a historic silver frame bearing the Bahawalpur state crest, old muskets and swords.

“This was a case of theft involving a domestic worker, who has been arrested and interrogated,” Muhammad Imran, in-charge of the Margalla police station, told Arab News on Sunday.

“The suspect had stolen heirlooms and antiques belonging to the family of the Nawab of Bahawalpur, worth approximately Rs20 million.”

The official did not say whether any recoveries had been made in the case.

The development follows several search operations by law enforcement agencies in multiple localities along with vehicle searches to boost security across the federal capital.

Earlier this year, authorities in the capital made it mandatory for all vehicles to have electronic-tags, or m-tags, installed, in a bid to enhance surveillance, improve record-keeping and regulate traffic in a city that hosts the country’s main government institutions, foreign missions and diplomatic enclaves.

The move followed a suicide bombing at a judicial complex in the city that killed 12 people and wounded over 20 others, amid a broader surge in militancy in Pakistan.

Yet in Feb. this year, at least 32 people were killed and over 150 others sustained injuries in a suicide attack that targeted a Shia mosque in the Tarlai Kallan area on Islamabad’s outskirts, officials said. A regional affiliate of Daesh claimed the assault.