Airport Police steals 8,000 pants, sells them at Karachi's Zainab Market

Investigation officials arrest a shopkeeper and two brokers involved in the theft of the export quality pants

KARACHI: The investigation police, with the help of Citizens Police Liaison Committee (CPLC), arrested on Tuesday a shopkeeper of Zainab Market and two brokers involved in the theft of 8,000 export quality pants worth millions of rupees. They also seized 334 pants worth Rs117,000 from their possession.

According to the investigation officials, the inquiry revealed the presence of an organised group of thieves at the airport comprising an official of Airport Police Station, Javed, and a private broker, Yasir. Several accused along with the police officials of Airport Police Station were found involved in the group's activities.

The investigation police said that the consignments were dispatched from the company sealed in cardboard boxes and that the thieves made holes in the cartons to steal the pants. They had fixed points from where they would steal.



The investigation officials said that the group used to sell the stolen items in different markets of Karachi through brokers. The actual price of a single pant ranges from Rs3,000 to Rs4,000, but the group sold these pants for a price between Rs500 and Rs600, they said. The shopkeepers purchased these pants and sold them to their customers at higher rates.

Officials further said that Javed had acquired pre-arrest bail while Yasir had gone into hiding. Raids are being carried out to arrest him. The investigation officials said that more revelations were expected in the theft case.

On December 25, the manager of a renowned textile company, Fayaz Ahmed, son of Abdul Ghani, registered case number 1334/2018, under Section 34/407, at the Korangi Industrial Area Police Station. He said that his company exports clothes, mainly pants, to European countries however for the last six months their clients had complained of receiving less quantity of products. He said that the company was sending the correct quantity of products in their shipments, but according to the complaints received, they had ascertained that 8,000 pants had been stolen. He claimed that the pants were either stolen by the brokers at the airport or their own workers after being dispatched from the company.

The manager added that the theft not only caused a great financial loss to the company but also affected its reputation in the foreign market. The robberies also perpetuated a negative image of the country. He demanded that action be taken against the accused.
The arrested include shopkeeper Rizwan, son of Abdul Wahid, and brokers, Tahir and Shahid.