Kidnapped banker rescued, three suspects killed in encounter

The abductors were allegedly a part of a professional kidnappers’ group from Balochistan.

KARACHI:

Three alleged kidnappers were killed in a bid to recover an abducted official of the State Bank of Pakistan on Saturday.

Fourty-six-year-old Alauddin Achakzai, a joint director of the State Bank of Pakistan, was kidnapped from Mauripur on June 5 when he was travelling on official business. His car, a white Toyota Corolla, was later found near Hub Chowki. After the incident, the kidnappers called the family and demanded Rs20 million as ransom, warning them of dire consequences if they failed to pay.

An FIR No. 219/13 was registered under section 365A at the Saeedabad Police station after which the investigation was transferred to the Anti-Violent Crime Cell (AVCC). The AVCC, in collaboration with the Citizens-Police Liaison Committee (CPLC), started a joint investigation.

CPLC chief Ahmed Chinoy told The Express Tribune that, “Based on the information gathered from police informants and technical support, the team conducted a joint raid at the kidnappers’ hideout located near Ibrahim Hyderi, Malir.”



The kidnappers, on seeing the police party, opened indiscriminate firing. Reacting to the attack, the police launched a counter-offensive which resulted in the killing of the three kidnappers while a police official was also injured in the exchange of fire, said Chinoy. He added that the kidnapped person, Achakzai, was rescued from a room inside the hideout where he was bound by heavy chains.

“They [kidnappers] had first detained me at their hideout in Lasbella, Balochistan,” said the rescued SBP official. “They took my phone and used it to demand the ransom from my family,” he added.

About 30 alleged kidnappers have been killed in the present year and 14 abducted persons including a Pakistani US-national, Ameer Hamza, and a teenager, Mustafa, who had been kidnapped by a stranger he befriended on Facebook, have been recovered. The kidnappers killed in the encounter were Lyari gangsters, Taliban and professional criminals. “There are no pending kidnapping cases,” the AVCC chief, SSP Niaz Khosa told The Express Tribune. “There is a strong impact of kidnappers’ killings in encounters with the police and this could be the reason behind the marked decrease in kidnapping cases,” he asserted.

SSP Khosa related that this was the fifth kidnapping case in the present year in which the kidnappers were making ransom calls from Turbat, Balochistan. “About a week ago, we also raided their hideout in Turbat but we missed them by a few hours as they had moved to Karachi before we reached the site,” explained SSP Khosa. “We feel that the law enforcers on duty at the Karachi-Balochistan boarder are acting as informants for the kidnappers,” he admitted.

The AVCC chief said that the bodies of the kidnappers were shifted to the Edhi morgue, Sohrab Goth for identification. Their families, whose details were discovered from the mobile phones found in their possession, were informed so that they could take their bodies for burial. He added that initial investigation suggested that the deceased kidnappers belonged to a professional group of kidnappers in Balochistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 23^rd, 2013.