Police bust gang of extortionists

Suspects only targeted businessmen and looted at gunpoint

RAWALPINDI:

CIA police have busted a five-member gang from Murree whose members used to collect money from people using the name of government high-ups for a Karachi-based charity trust. The suspects only targeted businessmen and looted those at gunpoint who refused to give them money.

The police have also recovered weapons and donation books from the suspects’ possession. Cases against members of the gang were registered in Rawalpindi, Islamabad, and other districts of Punjab.

Sources in the police said that a prominent businessman of Rawalpindi told the police that a five-member gang keeps collecting money from him through deceit. He added the suspects targeted only businessmen and snatched money at gunpoint from those who refuse to give them donations.

After receiving this report, CIA SP Malik Tariq Mehboob was tasked to apprehend the gang members. The CIA team conducted a raid at a hotel near Mall Road in Murree and booked all five suspects. They were identified as Kashif Sohail, Amir, Muhammad Aslam, Muhammad Ashfaq, and Kashif Rasool.

The police officials said the suspects were part of an inter-district racket and they had recently looted a citizen in Rawalpindi’s Cantt area.

The police officials said that cases were already registered against the suspects in Cantt, Pirwudhai, and Bani police stations and other districts of Punjab. They added that the arrest of the offenders was a challenge which CIA SP Malik Tariq undertook through an intelligence-based operation using modern technology.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 14^th, 2021.