Man demands extortion money from brother
PHOTO: FILE
A brother of a trader turns out to be an accomplice of a suspected extortionist operating from Turkey orchestrating a firearm attack on his neighbour’s home and his brother over refusing to pay extortion money in Shafiqabad.
The suspect, Fiyaz, had asked his brother, Ejaz, for financial help. However, all his brother could offer him was a motivational speech.
“Take an initiative. God will help you,” the suspect Fiyaz said. This was revealed by the SP of City, Hafeez-ul-Rehman Bugti. A few months back, a trader’s house in Shafiqabad was sprayed with a volley of bullets. This trader was Ejaz’s neighbour.
The suspected shooter was no other than an associate of an extortionist. This the victim revealed before the police. He had been receiving threatening calls from a suspect asking him to pay five million rupees.
“His man would approach your shop disguised as a customer. Pay him the money,” he had told him telephonically.
After sometime, he once again received a call from the suspect with the same demand.
The victim tried to argue with him, but he increased the amount demanded.
“You will face the consequences,” the suspect told him. The following day, his door had many holes due to some indiscriminate firing by unidentified suspects.
After the attack at his house, the victim became frustrated over the repeated threats by the extortionist to harm him and his family.
He also discussed the matter with his neighbor, Ejaz, also a trader. He advised him to restrict his movement acting upon which he confined himself at his house.
Umair is not the only one who was frustrated. The extortionists also got more restless.
Few days after Umair went underground, Ejaz also received a call demanding five million rupees. He also ignored it. One day, he was standing at a shop when two suspected motorcyclists approached him. After firing a few rounds in the air, they warned him, “We can also hit you if we can shoot in the air.” The incident was caught on the CCTV camera.
He also filed a complaint with the police. When police traced the call record, they discovered that these calls were made from Turkey.
When the CCTV footage was analyzed, police found a clue. Following it, police arrested a suspect and with his help they arrested two other suspects.
The suspects were identified as Shahid Prince, Fiyaz and Abdul Rehman. Shahid Prince had recently returned from Europe. He too had been suffering from financial crisis. When Fiyaz shared his grievances, Shahid had reportedly presented the extortion plan.
Bugti told the media that Shafiqabad police used the latest technology to arrest the suspects. Their alleged ring leader, Shahid Nazir, was based in Turkey, he said.
“The suspects would use different numbers to demand money from the victims,” said Bugti. Police have recovered automatic rifles from their possession also, Bugti added.
Police have said to have traced two similar cases leading to the suspected gang.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 30th, 2021.