LAHORE: A joint operation by the Crime Control Department (CCD) Sahiwal and an intelligence agency has uncovered a criminals’ network routing stolen motorcycles from the central Punjab to the Katcha area and Balochistan.

An official said the bike was tracked by the CCD the same day after a theft was reported through Safe City surveillance and inter-district coordination and the arrest was made in Okara.

The Katcha gangs and Balochistan militants had put a demand for brand new bikes of 125cc of a famous motorcycle company that ran well in the rough, hilly and sandy areas. The arrested suspect confessed to have stolen or snatched over 100 bikes in Sahiwal, Okara, and central Punjab during the last three months and transported them through the Multan-based network.

Talking about the modus operandi, the official said the criminals used to ride bikes along with a woman as pillion to dodge the law enforcers while transporting the bikes to provincial border areas. Each bike was sold at Rs100,000 to Rs125,000 to the local facilitators and the same was later resold at a throwaway price of Rs30,000 to Rs50,000.

The official elaborated that these motorcycles were routed to Multan-based receivers in the absence of a dedicated anti-vehicle lifting cell along the corridor.

“They then used to distribute them among Katcha gangs for onward transportation to Balochistan for use in militant operations, an allegation being probed in coordination with federal agencies,”

The official said the notorious criminal behind the bike theft/snatching was running a structured network along with his many other accomplices. He had got bail in a bike theft case late in 2024 and launched his criminal activities again, the official said, adding that the suspect was involved in 19 cases lodged against him across the Sahiwal region.

The officer said an investigation into the Multan-based receiver and Balochistan linkages had been launched and the CCD teams were trying to track down the other suspects.

The police sources did not reveal the identity of the motorcycle thief.

Published in Dawn, May 1st, 2026