Trafficked victim was a con artist, SC told

ISLAMABAD: The Punjab Police, in a detailed report submitted to the Supreme Court, has denied allegations of women being trafficked to Afghanistan from the twin cities.

The court had taken suo motu notice of reports that a 40-year-old woman from Rawalpindi had been ‘sold’ and trafficked to Afghanistan and that her abductors were now demanding Rs300,000 to release her.

The Rawalpindi Regional Police Officer (RPO) submitted a four-page report before the apex court on Monday in which he explained that only a single case of trafficking been registered in the city on January 10, 2017, at the Airport police station in Rawalpindi.

The RPO added that no one residing in Fauji Colony or Khanna Pul areas, as mentioned in the news clippings, had been found involved in this nefarious activity. The report further stated that the case which had been reported in the media was one of fraud.



While police initially failed to track the suspect nominated by the woman’s husband*, they managed to apprehended the suspect along with two other people after the SC took suo moto notice.

The suspect, the RPO said, disclosed that he had connived with the woman – a matchmaker - to marry people for a short time before looting them and fleeing. While trying to con an Afghan in Swabi, arranged through another matchmaker Gulab Zari, the man became suspicious and took her to Afghanistan while demanding Rs300,000 from her family.

*Name withheld to protect identity

Published in The Express Tribune, February 28^th, 2017.