Under-construction factory robbed before inauguration

Unidentified robbers loot Rs22.4m from a locker inside the factory

KARACHI: A newly-built industrial unit in Korangi was robbed even before it officially started operations. The robbers, who have yet to be identified, looted Rs22.4 from a locker in the factory premises.

The robbery took place at a food factory, being built on plot no. A/30, near Chamra Chowrangi in Korangi Industrial Area 2 Sector 23. According to the factory owner, Syed Zainul Abideen, the theft took place between August 23 and August 24. Korangi Industrial Area Police have registered a case, no. 19/1013, against unidentified persons on the complaint of the factory owner.

According to the text of the FIR, the owner had kept more than Rs22.4 million in a locker inside the factory. The funds were meant to pay for the construction work being undertaken at the unit.

The locker keys were kept in other lockers in the office, but some unidentified person or persons took the keys and stole the money from the lockers. The robber carried the stolen cash in a laptop bag present in the office and left the laptop.

The factory's accountant, Sheeraz Khan, called the factory owner on August 24 and reported that the lockers were open and that the cash was missing.

The owner reached the factory immediately, where the accountant told him that one of the three keys of each locker had gone missing a week earlier. The owner immediately called the police.

According to Korangi Industrial Area Police, the food factory was to be inaugurated soon. Investigation Officer Zulfiqar told The Express Tribune that the police suspected that the factory's employees were involved in the theft. The owner cast suspicion on four people and they were taken into custody, but no information has been gleaned from them during interrogation.

The accountant and two additional suspects have been also questioned but their interrogation hasn't been done yet. CCTV cameras haven't been installed in the factory, therefore the police are trying to access the footages of CCTV cameras installed outside other factories in the surroundings.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 28^th, 2019.