Brand new vehicles, 4x4s in particular, that were stolen in Karachi over the years are being used by large oil and gas exploration companies in Balochistan.
According to information released on Monday, provincial authorities contacted the Balochistan and federal governments, as well as the companies involved, and requested the documentation of the vehicles that they had rented or gotten on contract in the last five years.
Oil and Gas Development Company Ltd. (OGDCL), Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL), Thobo gas field, and other gas companies in Sui, Dera Bugti are among the companies being scrutinized.
Sources revealed that the Karachi Anti-Vehicle Lifting Cell (AVLC) will examine the records in its investigation into the issue that arose following the recent arrest of suspected car thief Manzoor Ahmed alias Bafo Bugti in the jurisdiction of the Shahrah-i-Noor Jehan police station.
AVLC SSP, Bashir Ahmed Brohi, wrote a letter to the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mushtaq Mahar, stating that
During the course of interrogation, he [Bugti] disclosed that he along with his accomplices snatched vehicles specially Revo, Vigo, and other brand-new cars from Karachi and moved them to Sui in district Dera Bugti where he sold these vehicles to different buyers.
Bugti told the investigators that he was an old car mechanic and had a workshop in Bugti Colony, Sui. He confessed that he and his other accomplices had been involved in stealing almost all the Revo/Vigo trucks in Karachi between 2018 and 2021. He said that the engines and chassis numbers of the stolen vehicles were punched and tempered before being sold with fake documentation.
Quoting Bugti, the SSP Brohi wrote: “The same vehicles were given to OGDCL and PPL on rent/contract on a monthly basis”.
“Furthermore, those vehicles are reportedly handed over to security personnel providing security to the OGDCL/PPL employees working in district Dera Bugti,” he continued.
IGP Mahar had reportedly approached the Sindh Home Department, which had then contacted the Balochistan Home Department, the Chief Commissioner of Islamabad, the OGDCL, and PPL headquarters for “data of all vehicles obtained on rent/contract basis for five years (January 2017 to Oct 8, 2021) in district Dera Bugti”.
How the Gang Operated
Sources said that Bafo Bugti was a member of a 12-member carjacking ring that operated in two groups to steal new vehicles in Karachi. He revealed that the gang’s meeting spot was in Kandhkot where they gathered various items, including number plates, jammers, and weapons.
They would allegedly drive away in a car at night, with their guns concealed inside in the car’s doors to prevent them from being found by the police during checks.
The gang would travel from Kandhkot to Ghauspur, Shikarpur, Sukkur, Larkana, and Hyderabad, and return to Karachi in the morning to steal Vigos, Revos, and Corollas in the Sohrab Goth and Sachal localities.
Gulistan-i-Jauhar (Perfume Chowk, 786 Medical Store, Continental Bakery, Darul Sehat Hospital, Al-Jadeed Super Market), Safoora, Sachal, University Road, Gulshan-i-Iqbal (Mochi Mor, Needz Superstore, Aladdin Park), and New Karachi were among the carjacker’s favorite haunts, according to the interrogation report. Bugti claimed that the car thieves saw these locations as ‘soft targets’ from which they could easily flee to the highways.
Their car heist strategy was to hold the driver hostage at gunpoint and use a jammer to prevent the signals from the trackers installed in the vehicle. After ensuring that the jammer is functional, the gang would then take the stolen vehicle to a street, swap its number plate, abandon the driver in a deserted place, and then flee.
Bugti told the authorities that while traveling on the Super Highway or the National Highway, the carjackers met with a stolen vehicle buyer(s) from Dera Bugti at a predetermined location and gave the vehicle to them.
The sources mentioned that four buyers or their drivers were identified as having acquired the stolen vehicles from the highways. Also, the suspects involved in changing the engine and chassis numbers, generating forged vehicle documentation, and changing the colors of the vehicles have been identified.
