Police found innocent

ISLAMABAD: Shalimar police officers, who had recently been accused of selling large amounts of seized liquor, have been found innocent by a high level enquiry. Over 26,000 bottles of imported liquor had been seized and stored at Shalimar Police Station three months ago.

A section of the press recently reported that this liquor had been sold for millions of rupees, replaced with local, cheap liquor and resealed under the supervision of the senior officer in charge of the area (who had led the original raid in which the liquor was seized).

The news reports and complaints received by the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Islamabad against the said police officers prompted the Deputy Inspector General of Police (Operations) Bani Amin to order a departmental enquiry into the matter.

SSP Mir Vais Niaz visited the Shalimar Police Station along with two under training assistant superintendents of police and some other officials to conduct the enquiry. The SHO and SP of the area were not present at the occasion.

The bottles of liquor and cans of beer were counted and nothing was found missing. The original seals were also found intact.

“The exercise took us more than seven hours with all the work force we had,” said SSP Vais. He said an enquiry report had been compiled, which was also presented to the media.

The enquiry report stated that the inspection team had found 13,277 bottles of liquor and 13,000 beer cans in the police station. The team had also cleared allegations that the quantity of liquor seized on June 30 this year was shown to be less than the actual quantity, which was claimed to be over 42000.

Police ascertained that the complainant and the reports had confused the number of bottles of liquor recovered in two different raids from different places.

Earlier, Tarnol police had seized some 19,975 bottles of liquor and beer cans, which were later handed over to the customs authorities, in May 2010. “The complainant and the news reports misunderstood the whole matter,” said the SSP.

The enquiry report gave a clean chit to the accused officers and found all allegations against them to be baseless. The complainant had maintained that the SP of the area concerned had taken some 23 cartons of liquor in his Cultus. “We had tried to put 23 cartons in the trunk of a Cultus car, but it can not accommodate more than three,” said the enquiry officer, SSP Mir Vais Niaz. The report has been sent to the DIG Operations.

Moreover, the Supreme Court of Pakistan had also ordered a judicial enquiry into the matter soon after the controversy had developed following the seizure.

The enquiry is being conducted by a judge and the report is expected in a few days. The judicial enquiry will further ascertain if the departmental enquiry by the police is accurate.

All the liquor under investigation has been sealed and will not be released until the judicial enquiry is complete.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 8^th, 2010.