Shahani's father Inamullah Shahani has rejected reports that his family, including his missing son, is involved in the illegal car business. The political administration of North Waziristan, on the contrary claims to have rounded up owners of a motor bargain centre, Shawal Motors, for striking a deal of a non-custom duty paid Toyota pickup with the missing minister.

The trade in illegal vehicles is lucrative largely due to the huge difference in prices of non-custom duty paid cars and the ones imported legally. For a smuggled car, one has to pay hardly one-third of the actual price of a fully documented vehicle. For example, the actual price of the custom duty paid car of the same model and condition that Shahani is accused of buying in Miranshah, headquarter of the agency, at a price of Rs 355,000 is more than Rs 1.2 million in the market. The profit margin in bigger vehicles such as land cruisers is bigger. Information about the illegal business of non-customs paid vehicles suggests that forged registration numbers are obtained and then engine numbers and marks are changed skillfully

The administration has arrested a number of known criminals in the hope of finding a clue to the whereabouts of the missing minister, but the exercise has so far failed to bear fruit. "I believe the kidnappers will want to lie low for some time to come. I don't think they will make any quick demand for ransom. They might wait for an appropriate time to make the demand in case of kidnapping," says Arab Arif, Political Agent (PA) Khyber Agency, who has served as PA North and South Waziristan agencies.

According to local tribesmen, the possibility of Shahani, his brother-in-law Naeem Mahsud and two others, being shifted to an inaccessible area of South Waziristan or having been taken across the Pak-Afghan border to the troubled eastern provinces of Afghanistan, cannot be ruled out. Locals as well as political authorities, however, give little credence to the possibility that the missing Pakistanis might be in the hands of the Taliban or the local Afghan commanders who are a part of the Hamid Karzai-led government in Kabul.

Shahani's kidnapping, the illegal trade in foreign goods and expensive cars has exposed the problems relating to the special status of the tribal belt. Demands have been made asking the federal government to extend the writ of law to the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).

"The administration will not be able to free the kidnapped people by force," says a tribal elder. Sailab Mahsud, adding that the gang of criminals active in the Karkanhwom area of Mirali sub-division of North Waziristan has already initiated a dialogue with the administration through local Maliks for the release of the kidnapped people.