ISLAMABAD, Nov 24: A sports utility vehicle (SUV) of a special assistant to the prime minister with the status of minister of state was stolen from the heavily-guarded Ministers Enclave late Wednesday night.

Police sources said Ahmad Yar Haraj came to his official residence at Block-A of Ministers' Enclave at around 11pm along with his protocol. The vehicle was parked outside the residence when he went inside. The security personnel and the driver reportedly also went to their cabins.

After a few minutes, the vehicle – bearing registration number IDE-2858 – was found missing from the spot where it was parked when the minister asked his staff to get ready for departure.

In response the staff of the minister immediately informed the police, who aired a wireless message about the SUV and put all patrolling teams in the city on alert.

The Secretariat police along with their supervisory officers also came over at the minister's residence and collected details of the vehicle. Besides, they also recorded the statements of the policemen deployed in and around the enclave for security of the VIPs.

The policemen deployed at the enclave's gate said they had seen the vehicle going outside but did not intercept it assuming that the minister was going somewhere, the sources quoted them as saying.

Replying to a question about their failure to check the outgoing vehicle, the policemen said: “We have to face misbehaviour from the ministers and their staff who also lodged complaints against us to our seniors causing problems for us.”

The police requested the minister and its staff to lodge a formal complaint with the police. However, the police approached the ETO Islamabad to get details of the vehicle to start investigation besides tracing and recovering the missing vehicle. However, it was revealed that the vehicle was not yet registered with the authority. — Munawer Azeem