Illegal detention: Labourer recovered from factory in I-9

He had allegedly stolen copper wire from the site

ISLAMABAD: The police during a raid at a factory at I-9/2 on Tuesday recovered a labourer who was found chained in a courtyard at the site and have booked six men.

On a tip off, Saddar Circle Magistrate Abdul Hadi raided a factory in Sector I-9, where he found Mubarak Ali chained in a courtyard.

The team released the detained man and arrested five factory officials including its finance director, Usama Shahid. Moreover, an FIR was registered against six staffers including Shahid, but the factory owner had not been charged till the time this report was filed.

Talking to Express News, the detained labourer said that he had been detained for the past 13 days for stealing five kilogrammes of copper wiring from the factory.

Ali, who had been working at the factory for the past three months, admitted to stealing the wiring. He said that a factory security guard caught him, and that he was tied up in the courtyard at the factory owner’s order.

“When my parents came to the factory looking for me, the owner told them that he would release me after they complete their investigation”, he added.

Ali, who hails from Okara, said he was also tortured during his illegal detention. He added that he was also held in detention over Eid.

Shahid, the finance director, said Ali was detained for theft. “I told his parents to pay the price of the stolen goods and take their son home,” Shahid said.

When asked why they did not report the incident to the police, Shahid claimed that the factory suffers many minor thefts and cannot lodge an FIR against every single one.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 7^th, 2015.