Cop held in K-P as car smuggling bid foiled

Capital’s police officer suspected to be involved in smuggling vehicles

ISLAMABAD: An officer of the Islamabad Police has been arrested in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa in possession of a smuggled vehicle.

The arrest has given rise to suspicions that he was allegedly involved in smuggling cars in the country.

Assistant sub-inspector (ASI) Shakeel Khan, who was currently working at the Industrial Area police station, had been intercepted by the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Excise officials in Mardan on Wednesday. Mardan police told The Express Tribune that they had arrested Shakeel as well as a proclaimed offender, Juma Khan.

Shakeel, who had been recently promoted to the rank of ASI in the capital police, was taking a non-custom paid Toyota Corolla X car from Rawalpindi to K-P when he was stopped in Mardan.

During an inspection, the number plate on the car was found to be bogus.

Officials said that Shakeel, instead of cooperating with them, allegedly summoned his accomplices. The associates came in two vehicles and confronted the excise staff.

They managed to wrest control of the smuggled car, which Shakeel was driving, and fled. Local police, however, managed nab Shakeel and Juma. Mardan police booked Shakeel for obstructing public officials and have sent him to jail.

“He was driving the non-custom-paid car from Rawalpindi to hand it over to his accomplices here [in Mardan]. The car’s registration number plate is also bogus,” a Mardan police officer said, suspecting Shakeel may be involved in the trade of smuggled cars.

Police are also on the lookout for four other men who came to help Shakeel. Two of them were identified as Adnan and Saifullah. The other two have yet to be identified.

When contacted, the Islamabad Police said that Shakeel was working at the Industrial Area police station but was currently on a month-long leave.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 22^nd, 2017.