PESHAWAR, June 7: Shortage of staff is hampering the work of the newly-established anti-car lifting cell (ACLC) here, officials said. Since the establishment of the ACLC by the late Capital City Police Officer Malik Mohammad Saad four months ago, the performance of the cell has not been satisfactory, according to the officials.

The officials said they had seized 78 vehicles about which there were suspicions. Seventeen of them had been stolen or their documents had been tampered with. Later, the vehicles were returned to their owners.

Fifteen cars were mistakenly seized. After investigations it was discovered that their papers were in order, said the officials.

In the wake of increasing cases of car-snatching, the late CCPO hired the services of three experts from Punjab. The experts, they said, had attended special courses in vehicle identification and were capable of examining chassis, bonnet and registration documents and trace vehicles that were stolen.

“We have only one inspector and one sub-inspector and three constables in each (group) due to which we are unable to perform our duties to our satisfaction,” said an official who claimed that most of the stolen cars in the city had been brought from Punjab and Sindh.

The experts, with the help of computerised and well-maintained data, can detect wrongdoing. The data was collected from the entire country, they said.

Snap checking was also carried out. “We can start regular checking of vehicles on the roads but shortage of staff has tied our hands,” the official claimed.

According to him, officials were also required to complete paperwork, like sending of examination reports of stolen cars to the Forensic Science Laboratory, Islamabad.

This was a time-consuming process which kept them confined to their office, he said, adding that availability of more staff could reduce the workload.

He said that cases involving 22 cars were being investigated and the vehicles would soon be handed over to the Punjab police, through the home department, for onward delivery to their owners. Due to the shortage of staff, the remaining 24 cars are still awaiting initiation of investigations.

The officials said that most car-lifters preferred to take away small cars because it was easier to hide them. The car-lifters mostly transported the vehicles to the tribal areas where the chassis and number plates were tampered with and fake documents prepared.

Inspector Akbar Marwat said the number of staff in the cell was being increased. He said that SSP Qazi Jamilur Rehman and SP CIA Ghulam Mohammad Khan had asked the authorities to strengthen of the cell. “Very soon, we will have 10 more constables, four head constables and one sub-inspector,” he said.