PAF squadron leaders robbed at gunpoint in Islamabad

Robbers open fire on officers near Daman-e-Koh, loot people coming back after Sehri at Monal, La Montana

ISLAMABAD: Police have sprung into action after armed robbers intercepted and looted several motorists near Daman-e-Koh in the Margalla Hills in the early hours of Sunday morning.

A group of four to five armed men blocked the road near Daman-e-Koh and robbed motorists returning after having Sehri at hilltop restaurants Monal and La Montana.

The incident could have been easily forgotten like several other similar cases in the capital, but among the victims were three squadron leaders of the Pakistan Air Force who also escaped bullets fired on their car. Images of the bullet holes in the car also went viral on social media, after which the police also used the platform to announce that they were increasing patrol in the area.



PAF Squadron Leader Azhar Hussain told the police that he along with two of his colleagues, Squadron Leader Majid and Squadron Leader Imran, were returning from La Montana restaurant at 2:30am when coming down near Daman-e-Koh, the road had been blocked with stones and four people had stopped a car in front of them. The gangsters, who were looting motorists in the first car, hopped towards the next car and snatched a purse from one of the officers. However, Hussain says he attempted to reverse the car in order to escape them but the suspects opened fire on them which hit the car’s rear window from one side and went out from the other. Luckily, all parties remained unhurt. Hussain managed to reverse the car and go back uphill.

However, the robbers looted all four people travelling in the other car. “It was around 2:30 am and it happened two turns above Daman-e-Koh. They were between four to five people with their faces covered and all carrying guns,” one of the victims told The Express Tribune. The robbers took away the victims’ mobile phones and wallets. “One of them approached me and slapped me and put the gun to my head, and checked my pockets. Another car was also robbed while a few others ran over the blockade damaging their cars,” said Jawad Chaudhry, one of the victims.



Both the squadron leaders and the other four people in the first car submitted separate applications with the Kohsar police, but the police registered only one FIR on the complaint of PAF officers. However, regarding Chaudhry and his friends’ complaint, the police only filed a lost documents report instead of a gunpoint robbery. “The official told us that this report would help us getting new ID cards which had been stolen from us,” he said.

The police later announced that they had devised a new patrolling plan under which two police bikes and two cars would patrol the 10-kilometer patch from Pir Sohawa to Marghazar Zoo between 11pm and 5am. “The travelers must be conscious of their surroundings and call 15 if they sense any suspicious activity nearby. Police is doing its level best round the clock,” it said in a Tweet.

SP-City Ahmed Iqbal said police were working to track down the suspects but said nothing could be shared at this moment. He believed the perpetrators were locals who were familiar with the terrain. He said this was the first time such an incident had been reported from the area. “We are taking it very seriously,” he assured.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 29^th, 2018.