Police bust inter-provincial gang of car lifters

Both suspects hail from K-P and were wanted in at least 26 cases

ISLAMABAD: The federal police claimed Sunday to have busted an inter-provincial gang of car lifter’s and recovered a stolen vehicle from their possession.

A police spokesperson said that following directions from Islamabad Police Inspector General of Police (IGP) Aamir Zulfiqar Khan, Operations- DIG Waqaruddin Syed had tasked Saddar-SP Umer Khan to accelerate efforts against car-lifters.

Following these directions, a special team was constituted under the supervision of DSP Khalid Awan, including Tarnol police station SHO Inspector Arshad Ali, ASI Muhammad Ishaq along with other police officers.

This team apprehended two, allegedly wanted members of an inter-provincial gang of car lifters.

The suspects were identified as Sajjad Farooq, alias Zubair and a resident of Mardan. The second suspect was identified as Hazir Ali, a resident of Swabi of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P).

The police team also recovered an allegedly stolen vehicle from their possession worth hundreds of thousands of rupees.

The police spokesperson said that during preliminary investigations, the suspects had allegedly confessed to stealing vehicles from different areas of the federal capital and Punjab and later selling them in their native K-P.

When their records were checked, it emerged that they were wanted in at least 26 cases of car lifting which had been registered at various police stations in Islamabad, Haripur, Abbottabad, Mardan, Swat and Nowshera.

Further investigations are underway to arrest their accomplices, the spokesperson said.

IGP Aamir and Operations-DIG Syed appreciated the performance of Tarnol police and directed the officials to intensify their efforts to curb car lifting incidents.

They also announced cash prizes and commendation certificates for members of police squad for busting the car-lifting gang.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, March 16^th, 2020.