TAXILA: Two motorcycle thieves, who escaped from Number 3 police station, Lala Rukh Wah Cantonment on Monday evening, were still untraced. They had confessed to lifting 11 motorcycles from different areas of Taxila and Wah, sources told Dawn.

The sources said they escaped due to alleged negligence of police officials, but police authorities were trying to hush up the issue to save the skin of the their comrades.

According to the sources, the police caught the thieves red handed in Saadat Colony and shifted them to the police station but did not register an F IR against them.

The sources said during interrogation they confessed to lifting 11 motorcycles from different areas of the city.

While sweeping the police station, they saw that policemen were busy and not paying attention to them they escaped.

When contacted, the in-charge of the police station SI Nazeer denied that two accused had escaped from the police custody.

However, the police spokesman SI Zaheerud Din Babar confirmed the incident and blamed the police negligence for the incident.

He said the police have registered a case under Section 223, 224 CrPc and section 155-C of Police order 2002 against the negligent policeman besides initiating departmental inquiry against them.

He also confirmed that the two accused were kept in detention and being interrogated without showing their arrest which would also be investigated by the inquiry committee.