Kidnapping for ransom: Organised crime reaches capital

The Sakhakot gang has been picking up wealthy persons from the twin cities.

ISLAMABAD: An organised gang known as the Sakhakot gang is running a kidnap-for-ransom network in Islamabad and Rawalpindi, sources told the Express Investigation Cell (EIC).

The gang is based in the bordering area of Mardan and Malakand Agency, according to EIC sources. It picks up only the wealthy, each one of whom can afford to pay a ransom of more than Rs50 million.

The Sakhakot area is the hub of criminal activities such as kidnapping, drugs and gun-running. It is some 200 km or two and half hour’s drive from Islamabad.

The official figures indicate that the gang has, so far, shifted seven out of ten kidnapped persons to Sakhakot only to release them on payment of ransom.

“The gang picks up its victims from and whisks them to their base in Sakhakot from where they negotiate ransom,” a source said.

According to EIC investigations, the gang members in Islamabad and Rawalpindi identify prospects for kidnapping. The group conducts a comprehensive reccy of the targeted victim and makes a thorough plan starting from the mode of abduction to the final delivery point.

A small group of kidnappers abducts the victim and delivers to another small group who shift the kidnapped person to the gang’s base. The abductee is released, often near Mardan, after the ransom has been received, sources claimed.

The kidnappers usually impersonate police or personnel, EIC discovered.

Cases go unreported

The victims, having realised the reach of their captors, do not speak a word about the kidnappers after their release on payment of the ransom money. So the statistics show only the tip of the real problem.

In one case, owner of an edible oil mill was abducted from IJP Road of Islamabad in broad daylight. The kidnappers in uniforms of the Islamabad police had flagged the mill owner to stop, apparently for checking his vehicle and papers, and then whisked him away at gunpoint.

The kidnapped miller was later released after one and half months when his family had paid Rs70 million ransom.

The industrialist never reported the case. He knew well that the people who had picked him could do it again, and with a vengeance.

Anti-kidnapping squad

The government has set up an anti-kidnapping squad in Islamabad and equipped it with modern technology to trace the criminals.

In Islamabad police, officers whose integrity is above board have been posted to deal with the kidnappers.

Lately, SSP Islamabad, Dr Muhammad Rizwan, has been holding meetings with officers assigned to anti-kidnapping squad every day.

“Islamabad police will use all available resources and networks to track criminal groups involved in kidnapping for ransom,” SSP Rizwan told EIC.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 25^th, 2013.