Shady business: Ex-interior ministry employee held for fraud

Former clerk would pose as a director and extort money from people

ISLAMABAD: The Special Investigation Unit (SIU) of Islamabad Police has arrested a former interior ministry clerk for his alleged involvement in scamming money from people by issuing fake job appointment letters to them.

Following directions from Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, a special team was constituted by Operations SSP Sajid Kiani headed by Investigation SP Muhammad Ilyas to ensure the arrest of the fraudster, who would claim that he was the Crisis Management Cell director.

The suspect was identified as Abid Abdullah, a resident of Sector G-7.

During the preliminary investigation, the suspected con man revealed that he was dismissed from the interior ministry in January 2015, and issued fake appointment letters against various jobs after demanding ‘bribes’ from his marks.

The suspect set up an ‘office’ in a house in Chattha Bakhtawar and employed people against various posts and gave them various tasks in the office. He tasked the people he hired with collecting details about bootleggers, arms dealers and brothel houses in the twin cities. Police said the staff worked in shifts in this fake government office.

The suspect, who posed as Director Crisis Management Cell, compiled various service books of people by issuing fake job letters to them and claimed he would give them salaries after approval from the AGPR.

The police also recovered seven fake service books, security cards, fake service cards, appointment letters, fake show cause notices, copies of posting and transfer orders, and fake stamps of various officers.

The Shahzad Town police have obtained four-day physical remand from a court after registration of a case and further investigation is under way.

Several people claiming to be his victims have also approached the police.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 25^th, 2017.