Police action: Over Rs3m looted money handed over to bank; six terrorists held

The money was looted from NBP Rawat branch in 2005.

ISLAMABAD:

The city police on Wednesday handed over around Rs3.2 million to the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) Rawat branch, which were looted in a heist from the bank six years ago.

Following court orders, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Bani Amin handed over the recovered amount, Rs3,267,000, to the bank’s manager in a ceremony.

The IGP said that bank cashier Raja Tahir and bank officer Muhammad Rafique were arrested for aiding the bank robbery in which the security guard, Muhammad Rafique, was killed and over three million rupees were stolen by unidentified robbers in February 2005. The accused were sentenced by the court and the police were asked to recover the looted money from the suspects.

He said that the accused initially tried to put the investigators on a wrong track; however, the money was recovered in intervals on the information provided by the suspects.

The IGP also revealed that the Crime Investigation Department (CID) has arrested six suspected terrorists from Islamabad expressway, including a would-be suicide bomber Wali Gul. The IGP refused divulge further details saying that the suspects are being interrogated.

However, CID sources said they had not arrested any suspected terrorists, adding that the suspects were nabbed by a security agency.

The IGP also said that the Crime Investigation Agency of the police recently busted four gangs involved in crimes of heinous nature. He said a four-member gang from Khushab involved in looting money from people by impersonating as officials of different cell phone companies was also busted. “The gang members would pose as managing directors of various mobile companies and offered people with prize money through lucky draw on easy-load,” he said.

The IGP said that eleven of the arrested men are suspected to be involvement in robberies and fraud, adding that cash and other looted items were also recovered from their possession. Twelve car thieves were also arrested by the teams of Anti-Car Lifting Cell (ACLC) during the current month, he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 29^th, 2011.