ISLAMABAD: Three people were taken into custody on Sunday when a team from the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) raided a motor workshop in sector G-12, where ordinary vehicles were being bullet-proofed.

According to an FIA official, the workshop was operated by a private company based in sector E-11.

"At the time of the raid, there were two vehicles - an SUV and a 4x4 truck - which were being converted into bullet-proof vehicles," he said.

"Those in custody include company owner Muhammad Ahsan and his two partners Riaz Hussain and Jumair Ahmed. The workshop has been sealed," he said.

Inam Ghani, director at FIA, told Dawn that the workshop was discovered when the Ministry of Interior received an application from a complainant in Karachi, asking to verify a no-objection certificate (NoC) he had obtained for acquiring a bullet proof vehicle.

"The NoC sent in by the complainant turned out to be fake, so an inquiry was ordered. A Karachi-based corporation was identified as the source of the forgery and FIA arrested the company's owner, his son and the company's general manager," Ghani said.

"Upon investigation, it was discovered that Ashfaq, a section officer at the Ministry of Interior was involved in forging NoCs for bullet proof vehicles and would charge Rs 110,000 for each one he supplied. While Ashfaq eluded arrest, his computer was confiscated," he said.

"Based on date recovered from the computer, we learned that Ashfaq had forged as many as 29 NoCs. The E-11 based company was also among the recipients of these forged documents," Ghani told Dawn.

Ghani explained that it was illegal to make or acquire a bullet proof vehicle without a specific licence that could only be issued by a special section within the Ministry of Interior.

"Right now, only eight companies in the country are licenced to work with bullet proof vehicles," he said.

Even most well-to-do people cannot currently afford to import bullet proof vehicles because of prohibitively-high duties. Obtaining a bullet proof conversion for an existing vehicle is considered a cheaper alternative.

An official of the Islamabad police said the government should legalise such workshops, rather than forcing people to import expensive vehicles.

"If somebody wants to protect their house, they need to get barbed wire installed," he said, adding that it was the responsibility of the state to protect its citizens, but if the citizens were willing to invest in their own security, the government should support them.