Fake it till you make it: The one time the police arrest a ‘general’

KARACHI: The police have arrested a man who pretended to be an army lieutenant general, called up government ministers and politicians and fooled them into doing him favours.

Maqsood Shah, an administrator at a hospital, was nabbed in Malir cantonment as he strolled in while wearing the uniform of a lieutenant general, said SP Ghulam Subhani of the Anti-Violent Crime Cell at a press conference on Thursday.

“He didn’t spare anyone. He called up provincial ministers, MQM leaders and Local Government Minister Agha Siraj Durrani, claiming that he was a general and that he should be obliged,” he said.

The police have confiscated an AK-47 rifle, a Blackberry and a car from Shah’s possession.

“Shah called up Durrani, saying he was a General Imtiaz. Then he went on to pressure the local government minister on selling land adjacent to the hospital at a discounted price.”

The imposter even claimed that he would soon be the commander of the 5 corps Headquarters, Subhani said.

Using the name of General Imtiaz, he forced an income tax officer to refund Rs180,000 that the hospital had paid. He even expressed grief over the demise of Pir Pagara, pretending to be a general.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 20^th, 2012.