LAHORE, Jan 27: Police claimed on Monday having arrested 12 members of four gangs of car and motorcycle lifters in the last one month.

Speaking at a press conference at the District Police Lines, Lahore SSP Aftab Cheema claimed that 40 stolen four-wheelers and 12 motorcycles had been recovered from the arrested men.

One of the gangs was busted by a team headed by the Model Town division SP. On a tip-off that the gang used to park the stolen cars in the parking lots of some hospitals and a hotel for some days before their transportation to the tribal areas, the SP asked the Gulberg police ASP to follow it up.

Constant surveillance ended in the arrest of a man who led police to his accomplices Mukhtar alias Amir Rana, Amir Alexander and Ashraf Khan. Two more gang members, Javed and Zahid Butt, are still at large.

Seven cars were recovered from the gang which had stolen 60 cars from Lahore alone, the city police chief said.

The second gang was busted by a team headed by the CIA Sadar in charge. On a tip off, Malik Arif and Malik Azhar were taken into custody while their third accomplice, Mohammad Rafiq, disappeared.

The CIA claimed that they had recovered 23 stolen cars from the arrested men. Of them, owners of seven vehicles, including four in Lahore, two in Karachi and one in Sargodha, had been traced. Engine and chasis numbers of rest of the cars have been tampered with and they have been sent for forensic science laboratory test. It is claimed that the gang has confessed to having stolen some 26 cars in their strikes in the last four months. Recovered cars are said to be worth Rs 12.6 million.

Third gang which lifted motorcycles was also busted by the CIA. One of its members, Muhammad Shafiq, was arrested with three stolen motorcycles.

Six members of the fourth gang were arrested by a team headed by the Mughalpura police DSP. Its members were identified as Awais, Arshad, Mohammad Ali, Shahid, Rauf and Khalid. Their five accomplices, Shahid, Asim, Shahzad, Hamayoun and Naeem are at large. Awais and Shahzad were said to be heading the gangs in Sindh and Punjab, respectively.

Police claimed that the gang had confessed to having stolen 45 cars and motorcycles. Of them, 10 cars and nine motorcycles worth Rs 5.4 million had been recovered.

Meanwhile, the SSP said that the Jan 21 Badami Bagh dacoity-cum-murder of Ghulab Khan had also been solved.

Subsequent investigation found that the killers had taken away keys of Khan’s shop after killing him. Using the keys, they took away cash and valuables from the shop.

Usman, one of the employees of the shopkeeper, was investigated who helped the police recover Rs 150,000 from his house. He told police that Tariq Shah, a friend of the deceased, had plotted the murder.

Tariq was also taken into custody. Murder weapon, a .30 pistol and Rs 20,000 in cash and a cell phone of the deceased were recovered from Tariq.