LAHORE: A crackdown against active motorcycle thieves is continuing across Lahore on the directions of DIG Operations Faisal Kamran, with Factory Area police arresting a two-member motorcycle theft gang.
The arrested suspects include the gang’s ringleader Mubashir and his accomplice Zahid.
According to a police spokesperson, two motorcycles, master keys and illegal weapons were recovered from the possession of the suspects.
According to SP Cantt, the arrested suspects admitted during interrogation that they stole motorcycles parked illegally in various areas and left unlocked in streets and neighbourhoods before fleeing.
Police said the motorcycles recovered from the suspects were wanted by police in various cases. The suspects were arrested with the help of modern technology.
A case has been registered against the suspects and they have been handed over to the investigation wing for further investigation.
DIG Operations Faisal Kamran said that action against active motorcycle thieves across the city will continue without discrimination, and that police are taking every possible measure to protect the lives and property of citizens.
The recovery of master keys is the operationally significant detail. A large proportion of motorcycles on Punjab’s roads are fitted with basic wafer-type ignition locks that can be operated by a filed or generically cut key. The result is that theft requires neither force nor specialist equipment, and leaves no visible evidence of tampering — which is one reason such thefts are frequently discovered only when the owner returns to an empty parking space.
The suspects’ reported admission that they targeted machines left unlocked in streets and in unauthorised parking reflects the second half of the problem. Where a motorcycle is parked without a secondary lock, the effort required to steal it collapses to a matter of seconds.
Police advisories in Punjab consistently recommend an independent disc or chain lock in addition to the factory ignition lock, use of designated parking, and — for owners of older machines — replacement of the original lock set.
The reference to arrests made with the help of modern technology reflects the expanded role of the Punjab Safe Cities Authority’s camera network and the Integrated Command, Control and Communication Centre in tracing vehicles and suspects across the city.
Recovered machines are matched to reported thefts using engine and chassis numbers verified against Excise and Taxation Department records — the mechanism by which police established that the two motorcycles seized here were wanted in existing cases.
Motorcycle theft is among the most frequently reported property offences in Lahore, and its impact is concentrated on households for which the machine represents both a major capital asset and, in many cases, the means of earning a living. Delivery riders, salesmen and daily-wage workers who lose a motorcycle typically lose income immediately.
The recovery of illegal weapons alongside the vehicles will attract separate charges under the Punjab Arms Ordinance. Investigation continues into whether the two men are linked to further incidents and into the network through which stolen motorcycles were disposed of.
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