Police bust suspected gang of paedophiles

Suspects blackmailed victims into committing thefts

ISLAMABAD: Police have arrested three people, suspected to be the member of a gang that used to forcefully record compromising videos of boys and then blackmail them to commit robberies.

The Kohsar police said that the alleged ringleader of the gang, Hazrat Shah Khan, is on the run but is expected to be apprehended soon.

The Kohsar police said that the mother of a 13-year-old boy, who lives and works in a house on the fourth street in Sector E-7, had filed a complaint against Shah that he had allegedly molested her son, recorded a compromising video of him and then blackmailed him into stealing for him.

The mother, in her complaint, said that her son turned up home one day dizzy and disoriented. When the boy finally managed to piece together what had happened, he broke down into tears and narrated the ordeal he was facing.

The victim alleged that the suspects including Shah, Nasir Mahmood, and four others had allegedly kidnapped and raped minor boys. They also recorded videos of the heinous acts and threaten to post the video online unless they abide by their orders.

The complainant said that the suspects had allegedly raped her son several times over the past few months and forced him to steal valuables from various houses in the locality. The most recent such incident happened on Tuesday when the suspects allegedly drugged the boy and raped him.

The boy’s mother, who works hard to make ends meet, had won her turn in a local ballot committee worth Rs0.2 million. When Shah learnt of this, he made her son steal the money. The boy abided by the instructions and stole her mother’s money along with three cellphones.

Acting on the complaint, the police have registered a first information report (FIR), and have started investigations. They have managed to arrest three suspected accomplices of Shah, while the main suspect managed to flee.

“Barring the ringleader of the gang, involved in recording naked videos of minor boys and forcing them into robberies in different houses of Sector E-7, the Kohsar police have arrested the other three members of the gang on Wednesday,” a police spokesperson said on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, The Express Tribune has learnt that instead of making a strong case against the suspects, the Kohsar police, allegedly lent advantage to them and included sections related to thefts and attempt to rape in the FIR.

Locals said that while the police have arrested three members of the gang, they have yet to arrest Shah, even though his whereabouts are known to the police.

Sources said that the police did not follow the due legal course in registering FIRs and skipped recording statements of the victim or his mother. The police obtained their thumb impressions on a blank piece of paper and wrote down the entire text of the complaint themselves.

Multiple attempts were made by The Express Tribune to contact the Operations DIG, but he could not be reached.

Meanwhile, locals said Kohsar police had received several complaints against Shah in the past but they never took any action against him.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 23^rd, 2020.