A truck load of carpets stolen on November 3 was recovered by police on Friday night. Six men have been arrested, including the truck driver, for faking a robbery.
DPO Sohail Habib Tajik told a press conference that truck driver Roshan Zameer reported that a truck carrying carpets worth Rs38 million had been stopped by around 10 men in a wagon.
He said Zameer had told police he had plotted to steal some bails from the truck with help from Muhammad Nawaz, Muhammad Jameel and Hannan. Zameer had claimed that the plan was to unload the truck at the Mushtarka Mianwali Hotel at Musafirkhana. He said he could not do so due to the crowd. He claimed that they took the truck to Khanqah Sharif and parked it in a bounded empty plot near Al-Samad CNG Station. He had said they had only taken out five of the carpet rolls when 10 people got off a wagon and attacked them. Zameer had claimed he was blindfolded and tied and abandoned in a sugarcane field with three or four people for watching over him.
DPO Tajik said they had suspected the driver was involved in the heist and had kept him under surveillance.
“Yesterday, we received a report that Zameer had been given some carpets… We conducted a raid and arrested him,” he said.
He said Zameer then admitted to telling a false story and being part of the gang that stole the carpets. He said the police got the names of other gang members from him.
He said Dhanot police arrested then Muhammad Nawaz, Muhammad Jameel, Abdul Hannan, Abbas Ali Shah and Muhammad Aslam were looking for Asghar Shah and Muhammad Sadiq. The entire consignment of carpets had been recovered and a 0.222 bore rifle and four 0.30 bore pistols were seized.
Haji Riaz, the carpet trader and a resident of Lahore, said he had announced cash rewards for police for their performance. “This includes Rs150,000 for the Saddar DSP, Rs120,000 for the Musafirkhana SHO, Rs80,000 for SI Rafiq and Rs30,000 for the five constables.
DPO Tajik said police officials had refused to accept the cash awards.
Riaz said he would request the Punjab IG to allow the policemen to accept the awards as a token of his appreciation and to make the presentation in Lahore.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 18th, 2012.
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