Cops shaken but not stirred in drugged ‘tea party’ with prisoner

SUKKUR: A prisoner tried to escape custody on Friday by treating Sukkur policemen to tea and ‘drugged’ biscuits at a stopover on their way to court.

ASI Abdul Rasul, head constable Ali Gohar and their driver Musarrat Abbas were taking Ghulam Sarwar Chauhan from Larkana jail for his hearing in Sukkur.

When the police van stopped at the Dreha stop near Sukkur, the policemen asked Chauhan to treat them to refreshments, as was customary for all prisoners under trial.

Chauhan, who was handcuffed, ordered tea from the hotel and presented his escorts biscuits. As soon as the prisoner’s ‘guards’ ate the biscuits, they fell unconscious.

Chauhan grabbed the keys to the police van and tried to escape but customers at the tea shop had caught on and grabbed him before he could start the car.

The enterprising tea-drinkers then handed Chauhan over to the Sukkur police as the drugged policemen had not come around.

Chauhan was taken to the sessions court in Sukkur, where it was announced that he would be kept at Sukkur Central Jail II until his next hearing, likely to take place on Monday.

Two of the three drugged policemen have yet to gain consciousness. All three are being treated at a hospital.

The prisoner has spent one and a half years in Larkana jail for fighting and being involved in clashes. His attempt to escape will be added to the charges once the next hearing takes place.

During an interview with Express News, head constable Gohar explained that the tea was fine. “It was the biscuits that Chauhan was carrying that were drugged,” he said.

Policemen are not allowed to stop when they are transporting prisoners from the jail to the courts since most of them are hardened criminals. It is, however, common for the police to stop for these breaks in which they demand refreshments from the prisoner. Sometimes, prisoners buy them soft drinks and other times they buy them tea.

The policemen and the driver will also be presented in courts at the next hearing.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 25^th, 2010.