Looking into it: Police probe into the missing Rs30m box

The box filled with prize bonds was stolen as it was being transported from Lahore.

KARACHI:

Members of the enquiry committee responsible for investigating the missing State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) prize bonds worth Rs30 million believe that the missing box was stolen from the brake van of the train.

According to the Railway police Karachi division SSP, Robin Yamin, the railway police have constituted an enquiry committee for investigating the disappearance and all seven police personnel, including a sub-inspector and a head constable, who were deployed for the security of the boxes are in police custody. "The policemen were the custodians of the boxes and we are investigating them. They are responsible for the safe transportation of the boxes but it will take time," he said, adding that the SBP staff loaded the boxes onto the train and that the bank pays extra to the police to provide them with security for the transportation of the freight.

The Inquiry committee head, DSP Malik Latif, told The Express Tribune that all the 10 boxes were loaded into the brake van of the Karachi Express at Lahore and the missing box were stolen after the departure of the train.

"The receipt shows that they have loaded 10 boxes, each weighing 60 kilogrammes, but one box is missing," he said, adding that they have recorded the statements of the cleaners of the train and the railway guard along with the police personnel deployed for the security of the boxes, who were the only seven people in the brake van where the boxes were kept.

"We have also deployed informers in all areas that we suspect the box might be taken to," Latif added.

The box was found missing when the train reached the Karachi Cantonment Station on Saturday at 2am, some two hours after its scheduled time. According to the SBP spokesperson, the bank has cancelled the serial numbers of the prize bonds and they can now no longer be used by the thieves.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 12^th, 2014.