Capital Police on Friday busted four gangs of car lifters and nabbed eight persons after recovery of 22 stolen cars from them, said Bani Amin Khan, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Islamabad here on Friday.
The Anti Car Lifting Cell (ACLC) put in all the efforts and succeeded in busting four gangs, three of car receivers and one car thieves, and it recovered 22 stolen vehicles, 13 of these vehicles were stolen from Islamabad and nine from other parts of country, the IGP said while addressing a press conference.
SSP Islamabad Tahir Alam Khan, SP CIA Chaudhry Liaqat Ali, DSP ACLC Abdul Razzaq, Inspector ACL Abdul Majeed and other police officials were also present on the occasion. Khan said that special task was assigned to ACLC for crackdown against carjackers which succeeded to arrest three notorious car thieves and five auto-thieves. Twenty-two stolen cars have been recovered from them while they have confessed to have stolen 180 vehicles from various districts.
In the wake of information collected during the investigation from nabbed car thieves, police teams have been sent to arrest their aides and remaining criminals while the local police of various districts have been called to cordon off various areas from where these carjackers slip along with stolen vehicles, he said, adding that police officials have been directed to keep vigilant eye on those who have remained jail birds for their involvement in auto-theft cases.
The ACLC is being restructured to make it further efficient and review is being made regarding its previous performance, the IGP said, adding that every possible effort is being made to enhance security in the city and vehicles have been provided for effective patrolling and vigilance at checking points as well as outer cordon of city.
Khan said that special teams comprising of Inspectors Abdul Majeed, Yunus Gujar, Mubarak Ali, SIs Sher Ahmed and Shafqat Ali, ASIs Mansoor Ahmed Muhammad Akbar, Asghar Abbasi, Constables Ibad Ali, Faisal Shahid Hayat, were constituted to arrest car thieves which succeeded in a very short span of time.
Three nabbed car receivers are ring leaders of their gang and have been identified as Moazam Ali s/o Mir Khan resident of Garhi Hameed Gul Charsadda, Malik Shaukat Ali s/o Liaqat Ali resident of Taro Jaba district Nowshera, Waseem Ullah s/o Ameer Ghulam resident of Aza Khel, district Nowshera.
These car receivers have confessed to have links with car receivers of other districts and they contact owners of stolen vehicles with demand to pay them `required money' to return their cars, the IGP said, adding that they also admitted indulgence in tempering of vehicles and preparing bogus registration books.
The other car thieves arrested by these ACLC teams were identified as Bakht Shah Zeb s/o Ahmed Khan district Upper Dir, Raja Azhar Mehmud s/o Banaras resident of Islamabad, Abdul Rehman s/o Ghous Muhammad resident of Khushab, Sajjad Nazeer s/o Nazeer Ahmed resident of Sialkot, Fahad Naseem s/o Pervez Naseen resident of Rawalpindi and Razim Khan s/o Azam Khan resident of Peshawar.
The cars stolen from Islamabad and recovered from these auto-thieves bear the registration number as follows; B-4243 (Honda Civic), NU-212 (Toyota Corolla), KW-965 (Toyota Corolla), LXG-1674 (Suzuki Mehran), JG-274 (Suzuki Mehhran), IDL-6618 (Suzuki Mehran), APF-06 (Suzuki Mehran), B-1406 (Suzuki Mehran), JX-857 (Toyota Corolla), RLG-1782 (Suzuki Alto), SB-280 (Toyota Corolla), LEF-9382 (Toyota Corolla) and LOK-9015 (Suzuki Mehran).
The cars recovered by ACLC Islamabad stolen from various districts bear registration number as follows: LXF-9087 (Suzuki Mehran), LEA-5939 (Suzuki Mehran), Z-3062 (Suzuki Mehran), LY-5745 (Suzuki Mehran), LEF-6557 (Suzuki Bolan), LWE-6515 (Suzuki Bolan), FDL-1393 (Suzuki FX), LWP-5233 (Suzuki Bolan) and AAC-810 (Suzuki Khyber). IGP Bani Ameen also handed over the keys of vehicles bearing the registration number of Islamabad to their actual owners while the police of various districts have been informed about the vehicles stolen from their jurisdictions.
The IGP said it has been decided to deploy policemen in plain clothes at various areas prone to car lifting in order to arrest the carjackers and enhance police strength at entry and exit points. Bani Amin appreciated the performance of the ACLC and announced cash prizes and commendation certificates for members of police teams. He hoped that they would continue the same efforts to control car theft incidents in the Capital. SSP Islamabad Tahir Alam Khan, on the occasion, said that crime rate has decreased in the city during last month due to community policing and co-operation of citizens.