Longer custody of land grabber sought

Police have asked the Rawalpindi district administration to extend the detention of a notorious land grabber Afzal Naeem Sabir. For this purpose, the Chauntra police Station House Officer (SHO) has written to the Rawalpindi Deputy Commissioner (DC) Anwarul Haq on Sunday. The police contended that Sabir was the ringleader of a gang of land grabbers and had been nominated in some 14 cases of illegal occupation registered at different police stations of the twin cities. The DC was requested to issue orders to keep him imprisoned for a month for the welfare of the people. The letter further stated that the suspect operates through an army of frontmen, allowing him to get away clean in several land grabbing cases. Police further said that as a result, it had become very hard for the police to put together a solid case against him with concrete evidence. The SHO added that in numerous incidents, the suspect has been known to use his powers to persuade victims’ to agree to a compromise in his favour. Citing these reasons, the SHO said that it was imperative to keep the suspect detained for another month, urging the DC to issue orders in this regard.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 7^th, 2020.