"I had bought a small car with my lifetime’s savings, for the convenience of my family, especially my children, and it took the car thieves a few minutes to deprive me of it," goes a poor man who recently lost his precious belonging on Model Town Link Road. "It’s become hard for me now to take my children to school and bring them back in the afternoon. I cannot afford the fares of auto-rickshaws on a daily basis to move from one place to the other, especially my workplace. I can’t buy a new vehicle. I’ve never felt this helpless in my life."

Incidents of car lifting are on the rise in the provincial metropolis, especially in Model Town Division. Khalid Saleem Butt told TNS he had parked his vehicle (LZA-8922) on Model Town Link Road, outside a popular fast-food restaurant, on January 2 this year. When he returned to his car, it was gone.

He informed the police at Rescue 15, whereupon the patrolling squad reached the crime scene and collected application. The cops at Liaqatabad police station suggested he should not get an FIR registered; he should instead wait.

The cops spoke of a gang of car lifters that was active in the area. This gang especially picked up vehicles with gas kits. Their modus operandi would be to carry the vehicle to some deserted place, strip it of the gas cylinder, the battery and the CD player and leave the vehicle.

The police officials’ response was very casual, despite the likelihood that the stolen vehicles could be used by terrorists.

Butt approached a senior police officer who ordered the SHO to register an FIR. The duty officer at the police station got furious when his superior was contacted. However, the case (No.8/15) was registered against unknown thieves. The investigation of the case was handed over to ASI Haider.

Since then, there has been no breakthrough. Butt says he has gone to different police officers but to no avail. Every time, the police would start telling him once and for all not to park any vehicle on Model Town Link Road instead of arresting the members of the car lifter gang.

The official data (available with TNS) shows that at least 300 cars and 1,000 bikes worth millions of rupees were lifted or snatched from different police stations of Model Town Division during last year. In 2015, so far, over 50 cars and 200 bikes have been reported as lifted or snatched from within the limits of 11 police stations in Model Town Division.

It is also learnt that a vehicle is lifted every second day from outside shopping malls in the said division. On the orders of the SHO, banners have been erected that tell people to park their vehicles at the designated parking lots only.

Ironically, the contractors of the parking lots have clearly mentioned it on parking fee slips that they are not responsible in case a vehicle is lifted.

Incidents of car lifting are also known to happen in Garden Town, Naseerabad, Gulberg, Shadman and Kotlakhpat on a routine basis. Typically, the car lifters storm the people’s homes and lift the new cars by using jammers and other modern gadgets.

The Lahore Police has yet to check the rampant rise in such incidents which have become so common that the concerned officials concerned don’t bother to take any action.

The officials actually express their inability to bust the organised gangs of car and bike snatchers/lifters who are backed by influential people.

Sometimes, the police manages to arrest the local members of the gangs but it cannot bust the network of their handlers who are either based in Mardan or Southern Punjab.

The senior officers of AVLS and AMLS say it is not quite possible for them to break the network of the gang handlers. They say that most of these handlers belong to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the southern part of Punjab as vehicles are dispatched to Mianwali, Rajanpur, Landi Kotal, Mardan, Chishtian and Bahawalnagar.

The focus of the investigators is on the time, the car model, and the modus operandi and crime-hit areas to arrest criminals.

More recently, the Lahore Police has also started preparing lists of gang handlers, carriers and thieves to ensure proper action against them.

Another issue which needs to be focused is the delivery of recovered vehicles to their owners in time.