In broad daylight robbery: Police clueless as gunmen loot trader near Koral

Several other muggings by armed motorcyclists reported in Koral area

ISLAMABAD: Khalid Mehmood had barely opened the shutters of his shop near the Khanna Pul on Friday morning when two armed men arrived.

Initially, he thought they were customers until they pulled out a gun and forced him inside, looting all the cash the trader had on him. Immediately after the robbery, he called the police helpline, frantically dialling again and again but no one would pick up.

“It was around 6:45am on Friday when the two gunmen, riding a 125CC motorbike, barreled down the wrong side of the road from Khanna Pul and took away Rs110,000 at gunpoint,” he said.

After receiving no response from the police helpline numbers, he finally dialled the number of the inspector general of police to seek help.

“After a call to the IGP, the Koral police contacted us and arrived at the scene an hour,” he added.

“Despite initial help from the IGP’s office, the police have yet to register a case, let alone start investigations or try and arrest the culprits,” Mehmood complained while speaking to The Express Tribune on Sunday.

The trader also managed to obtain closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage from a private hospital located just across from his shop. The sleuthing work, which he believed the cops should have completed, showed two motorbike riders coming and leaving with people gathering on the spot afterwards.

Mehmood described the two gunmen to be around 40-45 years old.

Pointing to the rising incidents of street crime, he said that two unidentified armed motorbike riders had also robbed two youngsters in the neighbourhood just a day earlier, while another man had been deprived of his mobile phone in a similar fashion in the same vicinity three-four days ago.

Residents have expressed concerns at the high incidence of street crime in areas falling within the remits of the Koral police station.

A university student, who was robbed of Rs1.05 million at gunpoint in the same locality last month told The Express Tribune on Sunday that the police has yet to make any progress in his case.

“We have written to SSP-operations and have met with the local SP, but police have yet to track down the suspects,” the student, Ahmed, said.

Meanwhile, ASI Mateen Chaudhry of the Koral police who is tasked with investigating the robbery cases of the trader and the university student, said that they had lodged a case against two unidentified armed men for Friday’s robbery.

However, he conceded that they had no clues or leads to pursue thus far.

Referring to the CCTV footage obtained by Mehmood, he said that it was not clear enough to identify the suspects.

In the case of the university student, he said police had identified the suspects, adding that they were part of an old gang of robbers active in the twin cities but have not been able to bust them yet.

Cop accused of extortion

A family has accused an officer of CIA police of extortion, bribery and illegal detention.

The Secretariat police have registered a first information report (FIR) against ASI Haider Ali Shah of the CIA police after the family of a suspect approached the IGP’s office.

Jawad Ali, a Bari Imam resident, claims that Shah and other officials, dressed in plain clothes, arrived at their house and insisted on a search on March 9. The officers allegedly whisked away his younger brother, Shehzad Ali, along with a gold ring and Rs10,000 in cash.

Jawad claimed Shah later demanded money from the family to release the youngster. He went on to claim that he paid the cop Rs36,000 the same day.

However, the next day Shehzad was booked in a narcotics case by the CIA police and then formally arrested.

“This officer has a private cell in Malpur where he detains the people after picking them and then extorts families to release them,” Jawad claimed while talking to The Express Tribune on Sunday.

Though the Secretariat police have registered a case against the cop on Jawad’s complaint and court orders, they have dismissed Jawad’s claims against Shah claiming that the officer was not even present when the complainant’s house was searched on March 9.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 23^rd, 2018.