Connecting the dots: Kidnappers’ network exposed

Police link politicians, students and a tribal chief to kidnappings in Sindh.

HYDERABAD:

The Hyderabad range police have detected at least two networks comprising over two dozen suspects involved in kidnappings in the nine districts in its jurisdiction.

Both these groups are based in upper Sindh but they operate through their accomplices among the internally displaced people, who settled in Hyderabad and adjoining districts after the 2010 floods. These gangs keep their abductees in central or upper Sindh areas.

“One of the networks is led by Mohammed Ali Hotipoto, who hails from Naushero Feroze, and another is led by the Marees of Shikarpur,” DIG Sanaullah Abbasi told The Express Tribune. “They also have support of some political activists, lawyers, university students and a tribal chief.”

The police came to this conclusion after investigating around a dozen kidnapping cases in Hyderabad. At least 13 similar bids, according to the DIG, were foiled through preemptive measures. He also confirmed the arrest of one of the suspects from Thatta, Hussain Mallah, and identified four others as Ghulam Qadir Khaskheli, Azam Mari, Riaz and Qasim.



Khaskheli and six of his accomplices were found involved in at least six kidnapping cases. Two of them were attempts to kidnap Brigadier (retd) Rizwan, who is incharge of the security agency providing security to Chinese nationals at Kunar oilfield in Tandojam, as well as two other security providers at the same field. “Both the attacks were separately planned but could not be executed as the police received a tip-off,” claimed Abbasi.

The DIG claimed that many of the suspects from these networks have been arrested during the last two months. But he declined to disclose the number of detained suspects and their identities. “There are still some white-collar criminals whom we have to catch with the help of these detained suspects,” he said.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, an intelligence bureau official linked the two thwarted attacks at the Kunar field with as many bids to kidnap Chinese engineers from Matiari. In May this year, an exchange of fire took place between the police and unknown suspects outside an oil exploration site in Darya Khan Talpur village. The attackers, however, managed to flee.

Three days before this incident, suspects Bhuro Lashari, Pehalwan Lashari and Ismail Panhwar, were arrested with details of Chinese activity and security. The police claimed to have seized weapons from their possession. The suspects were charged with conspiracy, but the local court released them on bail. Three Chinese were also kidnapped from Sukkur in July, 2009.

Another senior law enforcement official said they have forensic data of communication between the kidnappers and their confederates. The data has helped track their locations and led to their arrests. A diagram of mobile communication between the victims, suspects and interlocutors made available to The Express Tribune links the Hotipoto’s group with four separate kidnappings in Hyderabad.

Irfan Jatoi, Porho Maachi, Mohammad Khan Solangi, Mashooq Solangi and Karam Chandio, all said to be part of his group, have been killed in police encounters. Jatoi and Maachi were killed in the police raid in Noshehro Feroze for the recovery of the National Highway Authority’s official Ghulam Sabir Shaikh on November 19, last month.

The diagram shows a well-known politician, a tribal chief and a local political worker, Mehboob Abro, acting as interlocutors in the kidnapping of MUET student Hassan Mustafa Phul from Jamshoro and Mansoor Soomro from Karachi. Another depiction of the mobile communications shows the political worker contacting unknown numbers and interlocutors to communicate with the suspects in at least four kidnappings that took place in September and October.

“Law enforcement agencies picked up that political worker earlier this month but his arrest has not been shown,” said the official, adding that he may be handed over to Karachi police in another kidnapping case. The detained worker’s family has also filed a petition in the Sindh High Court for his release.

According to Hyderabad SSP Irfan Baloch, there are hundreds of white-collar people involved in these crimes. Many, he added, are part of the kidnapping ring but the police have so far traced the links to only a few.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 25^th, 2014.