Law and order: ‘Extortionist’ arrested in Faisalabad

CPO says he threatened to kidnap families of traders and industrialists.

FAISALABAD: Faisalabad police claimed on Wednesday to have arrested a man wanted for extortion.

CPO Sohail Tajik told The Express Tribune that Muhammad Laiq Rafiq used to call various traders and industrialists from different phone numbers, demanding money from them. He said he threatened to kill or kidnap families of traders if they did not pay up.

The CPO said a complaint was received from Muhammad Ahmad Sheikh, a resident of Masoom Town, who told police that he had received a call protection extortion money.

He said a team was constituted under the supervision of Inspector Shahid Sarwar Alvi.

He said the team traced the phone number used to make the threatening calls.

The CPO said police had arrested him in a raid. He said a number of SIMs had been recovered from him. He said Rafiq had confessed to making the calls.

’78 suspects arrested in crackdown’

As many as 78 suspects were rounded up in search operations in Railway Colony, Ghareebabad and residential areas near the Faisalabad airport.

Iqbal Division SP Muhammad Zulfiqar told newsmen that they had been taken into custody after they failed to produce proof identity papers. He said a door-to-door search operation was being conducted in the city. He said negligence would not be tolerated because law and order was a top priority.

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