Pakistan

CID arrests 3 men involved in more than 50 crimes

Fawad Ali Shah June 07, 2010

KARACHI: Crime Investigation Department (CID) arrested three men allegedly involved in more than 50 bank robberies, street crimes and domestic robberies in Defence and North Nazimabad, officials revealed on Monday.

The suspects are also allegedly associated with a banned militant outfit that operates in Para Chinar, headquarters of the Khurram Agency in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

A team under SSP Fayyaz Khan raided a house in Orangi Town, within the limits of the Pakistan Bazaar police station and arrested Syed Najamul Hassan, also known as Najam Shah, along with two accomplices, Muneer Hussain Jafery and Nazakat Hussain, after receiving a tip-off regarding their location. The team also seized a Kalashnikov, two repeaters and two pistols from the men’s possession. Iftikhaar and Jameel Hussain, however, managed to escape.

The men work for a criminal outfit that calls itself the Najam Shah (Parachinar) group, CID records revealed. According to officials, the criminals channelled funds to Maulana Syed Abid Hussain Shah, the head of the Anjuman-i-Hussain Matmi organisation.

The arrested men hired people from across the country and found them employment as security guards at banks and houses, which the criminals would later rob with the “guards’” help, SSP Khan revealed, adding that the guards would monitor activities at banks and houses and would provide the criminals with information and maps to plan robberies.

“The [arrested men] rented houses in Gulistan-i-Jauhar, Kabli Bazaar, Pehlwan Goth and North Nazimabad for the people who were brought in from other provinces. These people were then inducted as security guards at different places,” said SSP Khan.

Najam Shah and his accomplices admitted to looting a number of banks, using similar tactics, including a bank within the jurisdiction of the Shah Aziz Bhatti police station, where an FIR has been registered against the men. The men then robbed a branch of Soneri Bank at Sharae Faisal of Rs7.1 million with the help of security guard Abid Hussain, after which they looted Rs2 million from an Allied Bank branch in North Nazimabad with the help of Akbar Ganja as well as five other men.

The arrested men also admitted to robbing a house in Defence of Rs1.5 million with the help of Hadid Ali, a security guard at the house, along with Ganja and three other people. A case has been registered against the men at the Defence police station.

In 2008, Najam Shah and his men also helped an alleged robber, Nasir Hussain, escape from police custody, law enforcement officials revealed. Hussain had earlier been arrested during a bank robbery in New Town, after which he was taken to the civil court and then the Civil Hospital Karachi for a check up.

Published in the Express Tribune, June 8^th, 2010.

COMMENTS (2)

Batool | 14 years ago | Reply these criminals might be operating in the form of a group but to associate them to a terrorist organisation is not justified.furthermore, Parachinar is a territory where shia muslims are continuously being killed,how can they be killed or terrorised by a shia group? besides this organisation has never been termed as a terrorist group and it isnt fair to label them as such just because the above mentioned social outcasts say that they rob people and banks for them. of course they would want to blame a larger organisation. frankly i dont trust half the findings of the police and govt of pakistan.

Zarin | 14 years ago | Reply Antuman-e Hussaini is not a banned organization and is representative body in Kurram Agency. This organizaton has never involved in any anti state or terrorist activities and the date of its establishment is very much before the creation of Pakistan. Respected Ulama Schollers and notable tribal elders represent this Anjuman. The criminal arrested may have given statement by force and keeping in view the sensitive situation in Kurram Agency and whole FATA such statements can create lot of misunderstanding. Abid Huaasini is famous scholar and is very much known to all respectable ulama of the country and is the person seriously working for religious unity among different sects. No one can believe his involovement in such criminal activivities.

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