ISLAMABAD, April 18: The city police on Wednesday claimed that 176 vehicles lifted or snatched from different parts of the city had been recovered during the current year.

However, the details available with Dawn suggested that as many as 135 vehicles were lifted or snatched during three months of the current year – 50 each in the months of January and March and 35 in the month of February – and the police could recover only 13 four-wheelers so far.

During the period 19 vehicles were lifted from the limits of Margalla police station, 18 from Kohsar, 16 from Shahzad Town, 15 from Koral, 10 each from Aabpara, Sabzi Mandi and Shalimar, eight from Ramna, seven each from Industrial Area and Tarnol, six from Sihala, five from Bhara Kahu, two from Nilor and one each from Golra and Secretariat.

While reviewing the report on auto-theft incidents, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Bani Amin Khan said: “The capital police are making utmost efforts to curb car lifting in the city.” He said that several receivers of stolen vehicles had been apprehended as a result of effective coordination with the police of other districts.

The IGP said that the auto-theft incidents had reduced significantly while recovery ratio had also improved during first three months of the year.

The report presented to Bani Amin Khan suggested that a total 122 car theft incidents were reported in first three months of 2012 as compared to 176 such incidents in the corresponding period of 2011. It said that as many as 54 stolen and four snatched vehicles were recovered during first three months of this year while 50 alleged car lifters were arrested. During the same period, 69 tempered vehicles were also recovered as compared to 49 recovered during the corresponding period of the last year.

Similarly, the report says that decline has been witnessed in motorcycle theft incidents. It says that a total 37 motorbikes have been recovered during three months of 2012 as compared to 24 bikes recovered during the same period of last year.