Con artists: Robbers pretending to be law enforcement officials arrested

Police say they have confessed to robbing houses in Islamabad, Lahore, Quetta, Sialkot and Karachi

BAHAWALPUR: Police claimed on Tuesday to have arrested five members of a gang of robbers who would pretend to be law enforcement personnel and enter homes by claiming they were conducting search operations.  Rahim Yar Khan Investigations SP Irfan Samoo, City DSP Fayyaz Ahmad Pansota and Inspector Azhar Iqbal told journalists about the arrest at a press conference on Tuesday.

They said they had arrested five people, including a woman, and seized weapons from them.

“We had been receiving complaints for some months about armed robberies in Rahim Yar Khan by robbers pretending to be law enforcement personnel on search operations,” SP Samoo said. He said the pattern of robberies had led them to believe that they were being conducted by one gang. “We also received information about similar robberies in nearby districts and realised we had a serious situation on our hands.”

They would knock at doors and explain to the elders that they were conducting search operations in the area, he said. After they were let in, they would hold the residents at gunpoint and collect jewellery, money and valuables and flee. They had a woman accomplice, he said.

Inspector Iqbal said the frequent robberies had brought a bad name to the police. Such crimes tend to cause fear among citizens, he said.

Rahim Yar Khan DPO Zeeshan Asghar then issued orders for the immediate arrest of the gang members. SP Samoo and DSP Fayyaz Pansota issued directions to SHOs on how to go about looking for the gang. He said after weeks of looking for the gang, the police had finally managed to arrest them. The culprits were identified as Tasneem Kauser, Asfandyar, Rehan, Haleem Akhtar, a resident of Quetta, and Muhammad Madni, a resident of Rahim Yar Khan.

SP Samoo said the gang had robbed houses in several districts across the country. “They confessed to having robbed houses in Islamabad, Lahore, Quetta, Sialkot, Karachi and several other cities.” He said they had been sent to jail on judicial remand.

They had been identified by several robbery complainants in identification parades, he said. “Further investigation is underway and more confessions are expected.”

He said they had seized a car, a 9mm pistol and a mauser from them. Six cases have been registered against them at the Rahim Yar Khan C-Division police station and two cases at the A-Division police station.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 23^rd,  2016.