Woman steals gold, uses proceeds to finance Umrah

KARACHI:

In a rare incident a woman was arrested for stealing gold from her neighbour's home to go on a spiritual sojourn to Data Darbar in Lahore and Lal Shahbaz Qalandar's shrine in Sehwan and finally on a journey to Makkah and Madinah to perform Umrah and ziarat of the Masjid-e-Nabwi.

Baghdadi police station investigation officer Ahmed Thaeem said Shahnaz Imran was arrested on her return from Saudi Arabia after performing Umrah. She faces charges of stealing 20 tolas of gold from her neighbour's house. Police claim to have recovered Rs1.5 million in cash and three tolas of gold from her.

Shahnaz allegedly sold 17 tolas of the stolen gold before traveling to Saudi Arabia. Shahnaz's husband, identified as Imran, has also been arrested.

According to Thaheem, a case of 20-tola gold theft was registered on October 27. The investigation led police to arrest Imran, who confessed during interrogation that his wife was responsible for the theft.

Shahnaz stole the gold while the family was away.