MARDAN: Police arrested four members of a car lifters gang and recovered 21 stolen vehicles from their possession during an operation here on Friday.

Addressing a press conference, district police officer Mohammad Sajjad Khan said that a police team arrested four members of a gang and had recovered 21 stolen cars from their possession. The police team comprised anti-car lifting cell in-charge Qadar Khan, DSP city Bashir Ahmed, DSP rural Inam Jan, Hoti police station SHO Muqadam Khan, and city police station SHO Mohsin Fawad Khan.

The arrested suspects were identified as Hazir Ali of Swabi, Sajjad of Sheikh Maltoon Town, Mardan, Saleem Khan of Takht Bhai and Ayaz of Par Hoti, Mardan.

The DPO said that the vehicles had been stolen from Punjab and other parts of the country. He said that a car stolen from an MNA from Abbottabad was also recovered in the action.

He added that the arrested suspects were also wanted to the Islamabad and Swat police in over 50 car theft cases. He said that in the current year, the anti-car lifting cell had seized over 200 vehicles and busted several gangs.

“The gang had set up a WhatsApp group through which they would exchange information about stolen cars and other such matters. The gang would bring stolen cars to the house of Hazir Ali in Mardan and then would tamper with the vehicles before selling them to people fraudulently,” the DPO said.

Published in Dawn, December 21st, 2019