Supreme Court car lifter: Carjacker confesses to multiple thefts

Police to request for extension of physical remand.

ISLAMABAD:

A car thief recently arrested from the parking lot of Supreme Court has confessed to being involved in multiple car thefts in the city.

The accused, Muhammad Israr, told the police during investigations that he is not a trained car lifter but a carrier and confessed to receiving and transporting five stolen cars from Islamabad to Mardan and other tribal areas.

Israr, who is a resident of Mardan, revealed that he would come to Rawalpindi, where he would be delivered the stolen vehicle by his accomplices to be transported. He identified the makes and colours of the cars but could not identify the registration numbers or areas from where they were stolen, police said.

Israr told the police that he had come to attend the hearing in a bail plea case of his brother, who is jailed in Haripur. There he decided to steal Punjab Deputy Secretary Interior Shoaib Warraich’s Honda City (LED 2908) parked near the boundary fence of the Prime Minister Secretariat in the Supreme Court parking lot. He failed because he “lacked the experience and took too long to unlock the car,” said a police official quoting Israr.

Israr’s physical remand with the Secretariat police expired on Saturday; however, the police said they will request the court for an extension as he is required for further questioning.

Israr told the police that the pistol he had hidden outside the red zone was for self-defence and is carried by almost all car thieves.

Police suspected that he is part of a large gang of carjackers and could lead to the recovery of many cars stolen from Islamabad recently.

Earlier, the secretariat police registered cases of attempted car theft and carrying illegal weapons against him and recovered 12 master keys from his possession.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 25^th, 2011.