Another four booked for cash van heist

The police produced four more persons suspected of involvement in the Rs205 million cash van heist on II Chundrigar Road before a local court on Monday.

The South judicial magistrate handed over the suspects to the police for three-day physical remand. The police claim to have recovered Rs25m and gold worth Rs210,000 from the suspects, identified as Majeed Gul, Noorullah, Saifullah and Salman, who are accused of facilitating the heist.

The police are questioning the suspects of the whereabouts of the prime suspect, the van driver Hussain Shah. The court granted physical remand of the accused and sought a progress report at the next hearing.

Meanwhile, City SSP Sarfaraz Nawaz told The Express Tribune that all the four suspects are residents of Gulistan-e-Jauhar and were arrested from the remits of Mithadar Police Station. He further said the main accused was either hiding in his ancestral district of Orakzai or had fled elsewhere. Efforts are being made for his arrest, added the SSP.

Around six suspects have been arrested thus far. The police believe that 10 to 12 persons were involved in the heist and raids are being carried out for the suspects on the run. The SSP said that these four suspects were not present at the crime scene but they facilitated the hiding of the stolen money and were involved in planning the heist.

The police had earlier arrested two brothers, Naimat Ali and Asad Ali, accused of facilitation. The brothers claim they had rented out the high-roof minivan used as the getaway car in the crime to Hussain Shah, who told them he was going on a picnic.

Last month, the driver of a private security company’s cash van had fled with Rs205 from outside a private bank on II Chundrigar Road. The van was later found abandoned in Miskeen Gali, off Maulvi Tameezuddin Khan Road.

The case against Hussain Shah and his accomplices was lodged at the Mithadar Police Station under Section 408 read with 34 [pertaining to criminal breach of trust by an employee] of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) on the complaint of the security company’s Regional Operations Manager Shaikh Shoaib.

The complainant told the police he had been employed at Security Organising System (SOS) Pakistan for the past 11 years. He said that on August 6, Rs200 million sent by the bank on II Chundrigar Road was dispatched to the SOS Pakistan’s office on Tariq Road. The cash van driver, Hussain, and two other employees, Muhammad Saleem and Nadeem, left the branch to deposit the sum at the State Bank of Pakistan, stated the complainant.

Another cash van was sent to the private bank’s office on II Chundrigar Road at around 9am the same day and 13 sealed cash bags were deposited. Saleem had taken another four bags to the bank but those were returned by the bank and placed in the van, according to the complainant.

The FIR states that Saleem kept Rs5m, which was to be deposited in the bank’s West Wharf branch, in the vehicle and went inside the bank to collect a receipt. When he returned, however, the van, driver and cash were missing.

Besides the money, the driver and his accomplices had also taken away with two pistols, a repeater, a camera and the DVR system installed in the vehicle, the FIR states. When Saleem phoned the driver, Hussain said he would be back shortly but he did not return. Saleem later informed the bank of the missing driver and cash and the bank staff found the driver’s phone off.