All in the family?: ‘Drug-dealing’ cops, SHO claim SP was the real dealer

Say they were framed by the SP to protect a relative; court orders inquiry.

RAWALPINDI: A trial court has asked police high ups to inquire about the role of a superintendent of police (SP) and a station house officer (SHO) in a drug peddling case in which three policemen are among the accused. The request was part of Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADSJ) Muhammad Kaleem Khan’s full judgement, which was released on Saturday.

Saddar SP Waheedur Rehman Khattak, who carried out a raid on August 4 last year and arrested three police constables with three other accused carrying over five kilograms of hashish, was accused by the arrested policemen of siding with the drug dealers.

Earlier, former Racecourse police SHO Karim Khan Niazi was alleged to have been hand-in-glove with the dealers, and his subordinates — the arrested men — were accused of selling seized narcotics on his behlaf.

ADSJ Khan has directed the city police officer (CPO) to take strict action against police officials guilty of negligence and misconduct and those who may have misused their powers to weaken the case.

“This narcotics case is a pathetic story of lucrative indolence of police authorities who failed to bring forth the actual perpetrator and beneficiary of hashish transportation despite having arrested his agents,” remarked the judge at the start of his judgment from January 28, 2013.

Though the trial court sentenced three accused — Muhammad Azeem, Shazia Bibi and Ghulam Qamar — to 10-year jail terms, the judge acquitted all three constables — Natiq Shah, Syed Babar Shah and Saeed Akhtar — due to serious discrepancies in the investigations.

According to the FIR lodged with the Saddar Bairuni police, the three accused and Constable Natiq Shah were arrested on Girja Road in a Suzuki Alto, while a White Toyota Corolla sped away from the scene. As much as 5kg of hashish was recovered from the arrested accused and on the information they gave up, two other police constables were arrested while a fourth remained untraced.

Meanwhile, the arrested constables said they had arrested the three accused with hashish at Misrial Road two days before the registration of the FIR against them and had contacted the handler of the accused through a cell number obtained from the arrested woman.

The arrested constables claimed that after they contacted the handler, identified only as ‘Mama’ (uncle), SHO Niazi asked him to come to the police station but he said he would come to Misrial Road instead.

Later, Mama said his nephew would contact them, but SHO Niazi said they had no information other than the cell number given by the arrested woman. The caller said his nephew would contact them from the same number, and they later claimed the nephew was Saddar SP Waheedur Rehman Khattak.

The arrested police constables said that when they reached Misrial Road to arrest the nephew, the SP was already there with other policemen. The SP started torturing us while asking us how we dared to seize his brother’s hashish, the policemen said.

During the course of the trial, a Sadar Bairuni police sub inspector (SI) cited as prosecution witness by the investigating officer turned hostile and said he did not know whether or not the accused and the narcotics were found at Girja Road.

Racecourse police officials also claimed that over 80kg hashish had actually been seized, but only 5kg was listed as recovered.

In his verdict, the judge questioned why the IO failed to investigate the role of SHO Niazi, on whose alleged behest the constables were using an impounded car to deal drugs. He also asked why the IO did not collect the cell phone data of the arrested accused to trace any other accomplices.

Thirdly, he asked why the IO did not look into the accusations made by the arrested policemen about the SP’s alleged familial relationship with the drug dealers. The fourth question referred to why the IO did not bother to go to the homes of the arrested woman and search for the remaining hashish.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 11^th, 2013.