ISLAMABAD, April 18: Rawalpindi police's failure to remove three explosive-laden vehicles from a village in Islamabad has become a headache for the capital police besides putting the lives of the local residents at risk, has learnt. Abdul Majeed of Pehont village complained to the senior superintendent of Islamabad police in March that about two years backthe Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) had declared his agricultural land adjacent to the ATS training centre, Simly Dam, 'out of bounds' for him. ATS personnel pitched tents on his property to guard it. As a result, he has been deprived of cultivating his 26 kanals of land.

He said he came to know about the presence of the explosives-laden vehicles in the summer of last year when one of the tents fell, exposing what it hid.

On inquiry, the ATS personnel warned the villagers to stay away as the vehicles were laden with explosives.

The vehicles are parked near a jungle and in close vicinity of dozens of houses putting the lives of the residents at risk, he said.

“I approached every authority concerned, including the FIA, for removal of the vehicles but none of them took notice of the issue,” Mr Majeed said.

In response to the complaint, the SSP directed the SHO of Nilor police to probe the matter.

According to the report submitted by the SHO, the three vehicles - two Land Cruisers (LXH-7860 and JH-175), and a car (JS-574) - were brought to the ground by SHO of Sadiqabad, Rawalpindi, under the directive of the directors general of Federal Investigation Agency and Intelligence Bureau, Islamabad.

The vehicles were parked in the adjacent ground of the ATS training centre near Kror Road, the report said.

On March 18, the SSP Islamabad sent a letter to the district police officer (DPO) of Rawalpindi requesting that the explosive-laden vehicles, which were parked in an open space and may cause any untoward incident, should be shifted to a safer place.

“The villagers are grazing their cattle in the jungle and the presence of such vehicles has put their lives at stake,” said the letter.

Sources said the DPO Rawalpindi forwarded the letter to the SP Rawal division on March 22 from where it was marked to the deputy superintendent of police, New Town.

The DSP office sent the letter to the SHO Sadiqabad with a note 'for further action and report in two days'.

A senior officer of Rawalpindi police said the SHO Sadiqabad had been directed about eight to 10 days back to look into the matter.

However, when the SHO Sadiqabad, Raja Saleem, was contacted, he denied receiving any instruction regarding the vehicles.

However, he said the vehicles were the case property of the Sadiqabad police.

A senior police officer in the capital, under whose jurisdiction the village is located, said it was not clear whether the explosives in the vehicles had been defused by the authority which seized them.

He said the vehicles were recovered during a raid at a house in Rawalpindis Dhoke Kala Khan area about two years back.