‘Invisible’ mafia: Extortion - restricted or unreported?

Traders losing out as extortion creeps into Lahore, Hyderabad.

LAHORE:

“Your money or your life.” Extortionists want your money, and they have spread to many of the country’s prosperous areas. However, the police are unable to curb the crime. They do not even have the statistics to validate the presence of an ‘extortion mafia’.

The presence of such an ‘extortion mafia’ came to light after the bombing of Shalimar Express near Toba Tek Singh on August 6.

It was revealed by Railways Minister Saad Rafique in a press conference that the railways officials had received threats of a bomb attack unless they paid Rs50 million.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Railways Senior Superintendent Police Shariq Khan said the police did have a few leads to the extortionists but stopped short of revealing them.

In Lahore, cases of extortion are on the rise in some parts of the city but not in others. Perhaps it is from some parts of the city that people threatened have taken the initiative to get the complaints filed.

In the absence of a strategy to curb extortion as yet, only sporadic arrests have been made in Lahore. According to the Lahore city police, 12 members of five extortion gangs have been arrested so far. A major problem the police face is that they are unable to trace mobile phones from which extortion calls are made. Head constable Muhammad Tahir said, “Suspects use mobile SIM cards registered under fake names.”

Another problem is that the victims do not come up with any complaints. On July 6, traders at Hall Road organised a protest against extortion threats. Civil Lines police official Muhammad Tufail told The Express Tribune, “They had protested, yes; but no one came forward with a complaint.”

Hyderabad: ‘See no evil…’

Markets and trading zones of Sindh too have to conform to the ‘culture of extortion’ or migrate. Hyderabad Anjuman-i-Tajiran President Saleem Hussain Vohra and office-bearers of other trade bodies are desperate about what they say is an increasing police negligence and inaction. About 80 per cent of the crime in the city goes unregistered, according to Vohra.

Talking to The Express Tribune, he said the increase in street crime had had a direct impact on the number of extortion threats traders had been receiving. Traders at main markets had received ‘extortion slips’ but people are too afraid to lodge complaints.

Hyderabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry Vice President Turab Khawaja also confirmed that traders from various markets, had come to him with complaints of extortion threats.

They both claimed that people would have registered complaints if they were confident that police will take action.

Lately, a new senior superintendent of police (SSP) has been appointed for the city police. However, he has asked to give him more time to assess the situation and evolve a strategy to nab extortion gangs in Hyderabad.

It’s a vicious cycle. If the police do not pull up their socks along with the rest of the law-enforcement machinery of the respective provincial governments, people will continue to be silent on the issue, which in turn will puff up extortion gangs.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 9^th, 2013.