ISLAMABAD: Two people, suspected to be part of a gang which allegedly impersonated television journalists to extort money from a trader in Ghauri Town area, have been nabbed by police.
Imran Khan, who runs a bakery in Ghauri Town area within the jurisdiction of Koral police, told The Express Tribune that a group of around seven men operating cameras and flashing ‘press cards’ had visited his bakery several times over the past few months. He said the men would appear to record some video and then demand money from him. They threatened to broadcast footage of unhygienic conditions at the bakery if he failed to comply.
“They would barge into the bakery and ask for identity cards of the workers, then would ask them to stand in a line and check their nails,” Imran said.
“They would claim that they had called the assistant commissioner, the district health officer and the SSP of the area and demand money,” Imran recounted.
He added that he first paid them Rs500 in July and another Rs2,000 in December last year.
“Whenever we asked them for proof, they would start filming and taking pictures of us,” said Imran, adding that he did not know whether the cameras they held were even working or not.
The men, Imran said, returned on January 27 armed with a microphone complete with stickers of a popular television news network.
“One of the men told us that he worked for the ‘Jurm Bolta Hay’ programme of the channel and that they had to pay a ‘fine’ or else they would air the footage about the lack of cleanliness at his shop,” the bakery owner said.
Suspicious about their authenticity, Imran managed to call the police while the men were in his shop.
Soon, a police squad arrived. They managed to arrest two men while five others fled.
The two were identified as Muzaffar Butt and Babar Shehzad while their accomplices were identified as Rashid, Bilal Khan, Qasim Munir and Abdullah.
Police said that they had recovered press credentials from the two men but they represented newspapers and TV channels which they had never heard of.
“They insisted that one of them was indeed associated with a national television channel but there is no proof of that. We are writing a letter to the channel they claim to belong to,” a police official said. Further, the two suspects had admitted to visiting the bakery twice but denied extortion charges.
They were produced before a judicial magistrate on Monday and were given into police custody for two days.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 31st, 2017.
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