Bahria Town racing: UAE accepts FIA request to hand over Ali Riaz

Order for approaching UAE authorities made by Interior Ministry, Rawalpindi Police to constitute arresting team.

ISLAMABAD: The United Arab Emirates (UAE) authorities on Thursday accepted the Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) request to hand over Ali Riaz, accused in the Bahria Town drag race incident.

The FIA had earlier issued an arrest warrant for Ali Riaz and asked Dubai authorities for their assistance.

According to Express 24/7, the request had been made by FIA on the direction of the Interior Ministry. It is now up to Rawalpindi Police to constitute a team and send it to the UAE for his arrest.

Ali Riaz, the son of a real estate tycoon, had been nominated in an FIR after five spectators of a drag race were killed when one of the sports cars skidded off the road and ran them over, in Phase VIII of Bahria Town.

The apex court had earlier directed the Inspector-General of Police, Punjab, Tariq Saleem Dogar to arrest the persons booked in the FIR, including Ali Riaz. The court had also directed that the inquiry of the case be referred to an experienced and high-ranked police officer rather than a sub-inspector.

A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and comprising Justice Ghulam Rabbani and Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday while hearing a suo motu case had asked the Punjab police chief whether Rawalpindi city police was reluctant to arrest the culprits because they were “influential.”