Policemen arrested for FIA treasury heist

Arrests follow 18-day joint inquiry by FIA and police

RAWALPINDI:

Rawalpindi police claimed on Tuesday to have arrested Mandra Station House Officer Inspector Malik Yasir Awan and fellow constable Asad Mehmood for allegedly stealing domestic and foreign currency worth millions of rupees from the malkhana (treasury) of the FIA Zonal Office Commercial Banking Circle Islamabad.

Police recovered more than Rs65 million worth of currency from the arrested officials and raids are underway to arrest a private citizen named Naeem of Attock for getting involved in the money laundering. An amount of Rs55m was recovered from Awan and Rs15m was seized from Mehmood.

Addressing a presser, SSP Operations Rawalpindi Hafiz Kamran Asghar along with SP Saddar Nabil Khokhar presented the accused with the currency before media.

He told reporters that two suspects, including an ex-employee of FIA, were fleeing after stealing money from the FIA’s malkhana when Mandra policemen signalled the vehicle to stop at the Mandra toll plaza for checking on May 31. Cops found cash in the vehicle, took the suspects into custody and took them to the police station. A case was registered after the recovery of Rs49m from the vehicle.

Later, an 18-day joint inquiry by the FIA and the police investigated all the cases. Through an audit report, the FIA determined how much money was stolen. It was stated that more than Rs150m worth of local and foreign currency was stolen from the FIA’s warehouse, while Rs100m was missing.

Police registered a separate case on the complaint of FIA and investigated Mandra SHO Malik Yasir Awan, eight policemen and a private man. The investigation revealed that the former Mandra SHO, his official driver Head Constable Asad Mehmood and a private person manipulated the situation and stole Rs100m.

The investigation team carefully reviewed all aspects including the arrival of the suspects at Mandra police station, their stay and then departure and their communication over time. In the light of the revelations, the SHO and HC were formally arrested and Rs65m was recovered from them. The suspects were remanded for four days for further investigation.

SSP Asghar informed reporters that raids were being conducted to arrest Naeem, a private citizen from Attock who is involved in the incident. The remaining currency would be recovered after arresting him, he added.

Asghar made it clear that the two police officers had no place in the department. He said that Rawalpindi police didn’t face embarrassment in this case as their Gujar Khan Malik SHO Kashif, Mandra SHO Inspector Nazir and their team arrested the suspects and recovered the money.

“None of the remaining seven accused named in the case has been discharged yet. Their statements have also been taken,” the SSP further said and added that former Mandra HSO Malik Yasir Awan alerted his supervisory officer 39 minutes after the recovery of the cash from the Mandra Toll Plaza which raised doubts about the incident.