Missing ANF man in custody
Sub inspector accused of taking bribe in a smuggling case; denies charges.
LAHORE:
An Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) sub inspector who went missing on December 8 was handed over to the Federal Investigation Agency on December 21 by colleagues who claimed to have caught him red-handed while accepting a bribe.
Sub Inspector Nauman Ghaus was sent to prison on a judicial remand on Saturday after remaining in FIA custody for two days on a physical remand.
Ghaus told The Express Tribune that he was kidnapped from Allama Iqbal Town’s Moon Market and kept at an ANF lockup for 12 days.
Ghaus said he had been called to Moon Market to meet former Naib Subedar Mansab Ali, brother of a man, Abdul Waheed, held in a drug trafficking case (). He said Mansab Ali’s son Captain Khalid had earlier tried to bribe him to get Waheed cleared of corruption charges, an offer he had refused to entertain.
Ghaus said Waheed, Pakistan International Airlines worker, and his colleague Waseem were arrested from Allama Iqbal International Airport along with Muhammad Usman, his wife and two children allegedly trying to smuggle 16.7 kg heroine to Malaysia on December 5.
According to the application submitted to the FIA Anti-Corruption Circle police by ANF Special Investigation Cell (SIC) officials, the suspect was caught in a sting operation taking Rs50,000 from Mansib Ali.
The money allegedly recovered from him was also submitted to the FIA along with the application.
Mansab Ali told the FIA investigating team on Friday that he was given Rs50,000 by ANF Deputy Director Major Naseem Ahmed to trap the suspect.
Ahmed and his team – Deputy Director Muhammad Nazir and two sub inspectors – on Friday told the FIA that the suspect had been caught in a sting operation and handed over to the regional directorate on December 9. The ANF team admitted that they were not authorised to carry out such operations. They claimed that they had not produced the suspect before a court for 12 days because they were investigating the matter on their own.
Meanwhile, Ghaus’s family said they were planning to move a court against the SIC team for keeping him in illegal custody for 12 days.
His counsel Ghulam Fareed Snotra told the Tribune that he had told the magistrate the remand was uncalled-for. He said an FIR registered with Allama Iqbal Town police, on December 10, after Ghaus went missing would be upgraded to add illegal custody charges against the SIC team.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 25th, 2011.
An Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) sub inspector who went missing on December 8 was handed over to the Federal Investigation Agency on December 21 by colleagues who claimed to have caught him red-handed while accepting a bribe.
Sub Inspector Nauman Ghaus was sent to prison on a judicial remand on Saturday after remaining in FIA custody for two days on a physical remand.
Ghaus told The Express Tribune that he was kidnapped from Allama Iqbal Town’s Moon Market and kept at an ANF lockup for 12 days.
Ghaus said he had been called to Moon Market to meet former Naib Subedar Mansab Ali, brother of a man, Abdul Waheed, held in a drug trafficking case (). He said Mansab Ali’s son Captain Khalid had earlier tried to bribe him to get Waheed cleared of corruption charges, an offer he had refused to entertain.
Ghaus said Waheed, Pakistan International Airlines worker, and his colleague Waseem were arrested from Allama Iqbal International Airport along with Muhammad Usman, his wife and two children allegedly trying to smuggle 16.7 kg heroine to Malaysia on December 5.
According to the application submitted to the FIA Anti-Corruption Circle police by ANF Special Investigation Cell (SIC) officials, the suspect was caught in a sting operation taking Rs50,000 from Mansib Ali.
The money allegedly recovered from him was also submitted to the FIA along with the application.
Mansab Ali told the FIA investigating team on Friday that he was given Rs50,000 by ANF Deputy Director Major Naseem Ahmed to trap the suspect.
Ahmed and his team – Deputy Director Muhammad Nazir and two sub inspectors – on Friday told the FIA that the suspect had been caught in a sting operation and handed over to the regional directorate on December 9. The ANF team admitted that they were not authorised to carry out such operations. They claimed that they had not produced the suspect before a court for 12 days because they were investigating the matter on their own.
Meanwhile, Ghaus’s family said they were planning to move a court against the SIC team for keeping him in illegal custody for 12 days.
His counsel Ghulam Fareed Snotra told the Tribune that he had told the magistrate the remand was uncalled-for. He said an FIR registered with Allama Iqbal Town police, on December 10, after Ghaus went missing would be upgraded to add illegal custody charges against the SIC team.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 25th, 2011.