They bought meters from a dealer, who claimed the meters could not be detected through power-theft indicating equipment.
Police have arrested a gang for stealing electricity in the Sialkot district and beyond through remotely controlled chips, District Police Officer Muhammad Gohar Nafees said on Friday.
The DPO told a press conference that the gang, including six utility officials, was involved in at least 44 power-theft cases. Of these, he said, four had been traced in Sialkot, seven in Gujranwala and five in Narowal district.
District Coordination Officer Iftikhar Ali Sahu, Investigation SP Asad Sarfraz Khan and Gepco Sub Engineer Zahoor Chohan were also present.
The DPO said that that the gang was traced after a remote control chips was detected in an electricity meter at a madarassa in Shahabpura a week ago. He said a man, identified as Muhammad Owais, was arrested by Hajipura police on suspicion who led the police to the rest of the arrests. He quoted Owais as telling police that Wapda officers- Sub Superintendent Khalid Javed, meter readers Murad Ali and Muhammad Younas, as well as Bilal Ahmad, Muhammad Tahir and Muhammad Shabbir- were also involved in the theft.
The officers were arrested and the police seized 130 remote controls, 50 electronic chips, 44 seal guns, two box machines and a tool box. Police said the men had been involved in rigging electricity meters in Sialkot, Narowal, Gujranwala, Lahore, Rahimyar Khan, Azad Kashmir and Gujrat.
The DPO said that so far 55 people had been arrested in the district. He said the suspects would charge Rs25,000 to Rs50,000 for slowing and reversing domestic and commercial meters.
He said they bought meters from a dealer, who claimed that the rigging could not be detected through standard-theft indicating equipment. The DPO said that the gang had likely stolen electricity worth Rs10 million.
Factories raided in Gujranwala, Multan
Also on Friday, a special task force on electricity and gas theft raided Al Qamar Flour and General Mills near Rawalpindi bypass in Gujrawala and detected illegal electricity connections there.
The raiding team was supervised by Assistant Commissioner Saima Ali and DCO Tariq Javed Malik. The DCO said that remote control device had been fixed in the electricity meters that controlled its speed. He said a CCTV camera had been installed over it which was controlled by some factory employees. They would remove the device from the meters on seeing meter readers and other officers concerned. The factory manager, Muhammad Shabbir, was arrested. Police said they were looking for its owner. They said they seized a CCTV camera, electricity meters, a remote control device, a generator and some records from the factory. They said a meter clearance certificate issued by the relevant electric inspector was also found from the manager’s office.
Also, a Federal Investigation Agency team raided a cotton factory in Tarinda Muhammad Panah in Multan district and arrested its manager, Muhammad Tayyab.
Police said cases were registered against the factory owner and the manager. The owner was fined Rs900,000. Police said the Sajid Cotton Factory in Adda Kachi Muhammad Khan had been supplying power to 22 shops and an electronic weigh bridge.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 14th, 2013.
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Federal Investigating Team in Karachi - please you do the same raids, you will be shocked to see how much electricity being stolen there by cotton n yarn related industries.