Counter-terrorism inspector arrested for Rs20 million heist

Police trying to hush up the matter apparently to protect their colleague

KARACHI: New Town Police have arrested a Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) Inspector Rana Ashfaq over allegations of robbing over Rs20 million from a house. The investigation team is, however, trying to hush up the matter in order to protect their colleagues. Meanwhile, three other police officials implicated in the case are currently on the run.

The incident came to light when Muhammad Farhan, who owns a car showroom, registered an FIR at the New Town Police Station, claiming that police personnel had barged into his house and stolen valuables at gunpoint.



The robbery

According to the FIR, a copy of which is available with The Express Tribune, two police officials, accompanied by four other individuals in plain clothes and two policewomen, whose faces were covered with veils, forcibly entered his house located in Sharfabad at around 8:45am on December 3. The victim alleged that the police personnel announced they had come to search the property.

Subsequently, they started asking where the money was kept. According to Farhan's statement to the police, he repeatedly asked the perpetrators for identification, but they refused to divulge any information and kept shuffling through all the documents and valuables present in the house.

"Various savings certificates and prize bonds were at my house, besides laptops, iPhones and other valuable items, which the perpetrators collected from around the house and took away with them," says Farhan, in his statement to the police. According to Farhan, the total value of the stolen items stood at over Rs20 million.

His ordeal, however, did not end here.

Kidnapped

As the raiding party was leaving the house, they brought Farhan and his brother outside the house, where the latter saw a police mobile and a silver sedan parked just outside the gate. The brothers were blindfolded and driven around for what seemed like 15 to 20 minutes. All this while, they were threatened with dire consequences if they dared report the robbery to the police or tell anyone about the incident.

The brothers were later dropped off on a deserted road, while the perpetrators sped off. When they finally took off the blindfolds, they realised they were standing on Lyari Expressway.

Farhan and his brother walked to the nearest exit, which turned out to be near Shershah, from where they hailed a rickshaw to go home.

The FIR was registered four days later at the New Town Police Station on the complaint of Farhan and includes sections of robbery and kidnapping.



Investigations

When the New Town Police started investigating the incident, Inspector Rana Muhammad Ashfaq and his team posted in CTD's Operations wing was found to be involved in the matter. According to a police source, Inspector Ashfaq was arrested in the last week of December, but his accomplices are still on the run.

The other accused include CTD personnel Shehzad, Abid and Rizwan. Four other persons are also on the run, while the police mobile used in the crime has also not been found yet.

When New Town Police SHO Farzad Shiekh was contacted to inquire about the arrest of Inspector Ashfaq, he kept feigning ignorance about the case. 

Published in The Express Tribune, January 3^rd, 2019.