ATTOCK, March 9: The Attock police have impounded a vehicle being used by the National Highways and Motorway Police Kamra section (N-5) on the charge that it had been stolen from Sialkot about five years back.

Sources in the police told Dawn that on February 24, a police team stopped a white car (LOV-3295) driven by assistant patrolling officer NHMP Kamra section near Karma Chowk on the G.T. Road and asked him to produce documents of the vehicle.

However, the driver could not satisfy the police about the ownership of the car.

The police got the vehicle’s record, including its engine and chassis numbers, verified from the anti-car lifting cell at Mullah Mansoor in Attock and the ACLC Islamabad.

The records revealed that the registration number of the vehicle was actually LZE-5125 and it had been stolen from the jurisdiction of the Kotli Loharah police station in Sialkot some five years back.

The FIR of the theft was registered with the same police on July 4, 2008. The sources said the stolen vehicle was recovered by the NHMP Kamra about three years back.

Since then the vehicle had been used by the driving school of the motorway police.

When contacted, an official of the Kamra police said the vehicle had been impounded as it was found stolen from Sialkot.

He said the police station in Sialkot had also been informed about the vehicle.

Mohammad Iqbal, DSP NHMP Kamra section, said the vehicle was actually handed over to the Kamra police by the NHMP when thelatter came to know that it had been stolen.

He said it was a routine practice that the NHMP handed over any stolen vehicle after recovery to the respective police if its owner is identified.

He said his department had no information that the car had been stolen from Sialkot.

He said the NHMP had been trying to trace its owners since its recovery some three years back.

When asked why the police impounded the vehicle under section 550 if the NMHP had handed it over to them, he said the police decision was wrong.

In reply to another question as to why the car was being used by the NHMP driving school, the DSP replied that it was kept in a moving condition to avoid any damage to it from perpetual parking.