KARACHI, Feb 9: Over 20 per cent automobiles are stolen for CNG kits which are sold away for Rs12,000 to Rs15,000.

The figures collated by Dawn showed that 3,029 cars were stolen and of them 1,389 were recovered in different areas during the last nine months. The recovered vehicles included 698 cars (23 per cent) which were abandoned with CNG kits removed.

In November alone, 513 vehicles were taken away and 243 were recovered in different parts of the city. Of recovered vehicles, 99 were abandoned with their CNG kits stolen.

Most of the vehicles stolen for CNG kits were found abandoned within a week after the theft. Twenty-eight such cars were found after one day, 13 after two days, nine after four days, eight on the same day, seven after three days, five after five days, four each after six and seven days, and 21 were found abandoned a week after the theft.

Sources said over 200 CNG conversion centres were operational in Karachi while thousands of small workshops also fitted CNG kits in cars.

Sources linked with the anti-carjacking operations said selling away a stolen CNG kit was far easier task for thieves than to dispose of a stolen car. They said vehicles stolen for the CNG kits were mostly found abandoned in Clifton, Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Frere and Ferozabad police limits. They said major markets for the disposal of stolen CNG kits were Jamshed Road and North Nazimabad.

They said most of the cars stolen did not have steering locks. The owners of the cars without built-in steering locks must use “crook lock” to minimise the risk of theft.

They said an ACLC team recently smashed a gang of CNG thieves and recovered 16 CNG kits from them. Another suspect was arrested and 12 CNG kits of the cars stolen in PIB and New Town police limits were recovered from his possession.

Chief of Anti-car Lifting Cell, SSP Abdul Khaliq Shaikh, told Dawn that a strategy was being chalked out to curb the menace of CNG kits theft. He said the officials of ACLC and the Citizen-Police Liaison Committee had met the operators of all major CNG conversion centres and devised a code for the sale and purchase of CNG kits.

“They have been asked to maintain a proper record of the sale and purchase and also mention the serial number inscribed on the CNG kit in the receipts,” he added.

The SSP said a special CNG unit had been established in the ACLC. “The unit, comprising initially eight personnel, is collecting relevant data and locations of the CNG centres,” he said adding that the unit has already started surveillance on the illegal sale and resale of CNG kits.