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KARACHI, Oct 19: Let alone the law-enforcement agencies, even civilians having the ‘right connections’ are using unclaimed vehicles for their personal use, which are supposed to be deposited at the central vehicle pool — Nazarat — for public auction, it has been reliably learnt.
With the average registration of vehicles increased to 753 a day in the city, vehicle thefts have also surged and subsequently, the number of tampered with vehicles has also risen.
The excise department registered 750,000 vehicles in 2001. The figure grew to 1,080,000 in 2007 and to around 1,130,000 during the first seven months of 2008. Subsequently, there has been a rise in the number of tampered with vehicles, which are supposed to be deposited at the central vehicle pool for auction though they seldom are, on the pretext that the vehicle’s original identity could not be established.
FSL test & secret code
However, experts told Dawn that if the chassis number of a vehicle was tampered with by superimposing a new chassis number, there remained good chances that the original number could be deciphered in a forensic science laboratory (FSL) test of the vehicle. The vehicle’s original identity could thus be established, they added.
“For deciphering the chassis number a chemical compound is applied that exposes the real number, though it damages that particular part of the vehicle,” said an expert.
The experts said that once the real chassis number was uncovered, the vehicle could be returned to its rightful owner. But, if the vehicle’s chassis number had been cut and welded by criminals, there were little means left with the police to establish the vehicle’s identity, they said, adding that finding the real owner became next to impossible.
Even if the part showing the chassis number has been cut and welded by criminals, auto manufactures can establish the vehicle’s identity, auto experts disclosed while talking to Dawn. “They plant a secret code, retrievable only by the manufacture, in the vehicle. But for the purpose, the vehicle has to be sent to its manufacturer.”
At present, only one manufacturer is making cars bearing a secret code, the experts pointed out. All unclaimed vehicles are supposed to be deposited at the central vehicle pool for auction. However, “by and large only an average and below-average vehicle makes it to the auction. Most of the 4x4 vehicles, including Land Cruisers, Surfs and Corollas, generally do not make it. They are taken away much before,” well-placed sources said.
Home dept’s role
Sources said the home department played a crucial role in awarding the unclaimed vehicle on Supardari (the condition that unclaimed cars handed over for use are maintained, not sold, and returned when asked for). “In fact, a recommendation letter of the home secretary simply does the trick,” the sources pointed out.
A well-placed source, explaining the process of procurement, said that a person, either an intelligence sleuth or an employee of the home department or police department, got a letter issued from the home secretary addressed to the official in-charge of Nazarat suggesting that a vehicle be issued to the letter-bearer.
However, it is hard to trace an unclaimed vehicle without the connivance of the police. It is often the Anti Car Lifting Unit (ACLU) where such vehicles land before they are deposited at the Nazarat.
Sources said that interested parties were informed by some policemen that a certain vehicle had been impounded by the unit. Besides, they said, intelligence sleuths often called at the ACLU office, inquiring if any unclaimed vehicle had landed. Soon, the interested party turned up bearing the letter issued by the home secretary recommending that such a vehicle be handed over to him, the sources said.
To fulfil some legal formalities, a policeman of the ACLU and the interested person took the vehicle to the Nazarat, from where the vehicle was handed over to the person on submission of the letter’s copy, they added.
Insatiable appetite
The sources said that most such vehicles ended up either with police officers or were taken away by the intelligence agencies, whose sleuths seemed to have an endless appetite for new cars.
Sources in the home department told Dawn that during the tenure of a former home secretary, recommendation letters for unclaimed vehicles were liberally issued.
In the post-9/11 situation, the government decided that unclaimed vehicles should be handed over to the intelligence agencies and police units involved in intelligence gathering and carrying out discreet operations. Understandably, they would not use their official vehicle for covert operations, an officer remarked.
However, experts said, the policy opened a Pandora’s Box. By following the process, not only the home department officials or those of any other government department, but also well-connected civilians could procure unclaimed vehicles, the sources said.
