PESHAWAR, Jan 19: The Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) of the police department received 917 vehicles for verification in 2006, of which 550 were found stolen, sources told Dawn.

Sources attributed the high number of seizures to police efficiency. The car-lifters, they added, had now adopted modern techniques which had made it difficult for police to detect wrongdoings. They expressed fears that the total number of stolen cars could be more than the existing figure.

Customs officials used to be awarded 25 per cent of the amount collected from the auction of the vehicles tampered with, which motivated them to confiscate a large number of vehicles, sources said, adding that some eight months ago the Central Board of Revenue had banned the auction of such vehicles. Now, the Customs authorities were not too interested in detecting wrongdoing.

They claimed that the stolen vehicles were taken to the tribal areas or other safe places in the settled areas where they were taken apart and their spares were sold in the market.

Sources said car lifting had become an organised crime in the province and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) where people involved changed, through modern gadgets, engine numbers, chassis numbers and number plates of the stolen vehicles.

As police laboratories were not equipped with the state-of-the-art devices, they had asked higher authorities to provide them with modern equipment and pay heed to the training of personnel. However, no response was forthcoming.

In most of the cases, the documents of the vehicles involved helped police in detecting theft.