Car lifting goes on despite trackers
Car lifting goes on despite trackers
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
By Mansoor Ahmad
LAHORE
CAR THEFT in the City takes place even of vehicles that have installed the latest tracker technology which shows that car thieves have either outsmarted the globally recognised technology or tracker companies have lax attitude.
Car owners pay a hefty amount, ranging from Rs3,000 to Rs55,000, for installation of trackers on the assumption that by handing over the security of their vehicles to the tracker companies, they have shielded themselves from both theft and robbery. The News found that trackers do not provide hundred percent safety of their cars as assumed by their owners. Cars that have trackers installed in them are also vulnerable to theft and police record shows that numerous vehicles with trackers have been stolen from the City and they could not be traced. At the same time, attempts to snatch or steal a vehicle have been frustrated due to vigilance shown by tracker companies.
The frequent incidents of theft cars which have trackers installed demand that police keep a record of each tracker company and the number of untraced thefts. It has been found that customers whose cars are stolen despite installed trackers accuse the companies of abetting thieves in the crime or having criminal elements among their staff that tend to ignore any tampering.
An expert at vehicle security and consultant to various tracker companies, Asher Lodhi, said modern trackers monitored the vehicle through the Global Position System (GPS) technology that helped monitor the location of vehicles through satellite. He said the tracker also contained a GSM module through which messages could be sent and a control circulatory that control the car functions such as jamming it or locking the doors, windows and steering.
He said the theft of cars with trackers meant that the system attached had been compromised. He said the system worked through battery and a thief attempted to disconnect the battery. However, he added, any tampering of battery was promptly reported to the officer of the tracking company who contacted the car owner and if necessary police.
Mr Lodhi said the tracker had an in-built battery that operated without main battery for 45 minutes, adding that the company could demobilise the car, identify its location and inform police during those 45 minutes. He said it was extremely difficult to remove the tracker in less than 30 minutes due to its secret location. He said there was a remote possibility that thief would find tracker immediately and this gave the company time to alert the police and rush its own squad. He did not rule out the possibility that any employee of the tracker company could connive with thieves’ gangs and facilitate them in car lifting.
The News has learnt that one unsatisfied car owner whose car was lifted despite having a tracker has lodged a complaint with the IG Police Punjab accusing some employees of the tracking company of conniving with thieves in lifting his car. The accused are currently on bail.
According to details, the tracking company informed Shahid Aqeel, the owner of the car (LEB 163-10), at his Johar Town residence at 4.24am on 15.06.2010 that someone was tinkering with the battery of his car. When the owner checked his garage, the car was not there. He informed the police who reached his residence within 10 minutes. Aqeel then remained constantly in contact with the tracker company but they could not satisfy him as to how the car was taken out of his house in presence of the tracker. The tracker company finally informed the owner at 11am that they had located the vehicle and its tracker was removed. They said they had taken away the pieces of broken tracker in custody. The owner expressed annoyance as to why the police were not informed while tracker parts were being removed from the road.
Aqeel asked for the activity report of tracker system that revealed that the system had lost track of the vehicle from around 3pm on 14.06.2010 till 4.21 am on 15.06.2010. According to tracker report, the car’s battery was tempered with at 4.22am on same day after which they informed the owner. The owner said that location from where the company lifted the broken tracker pieces was shown to him at 4.30pm almost 12 hours after the vehicle was stolen.
The company failed to file satisfactory replies to the queries of the investigation officer of Johar Town police to explain the missing details of vehicle activity from 3pm on June 14 till 4.21 am on June 15.