Bittersweet homecoming: Expatriates robbed by men in police uniform

Cars pulled over in three Ring Road hits within 15 minutes.

LAHORE: Armed men dressed as policemen robbed three expatriates of large amounts of cash and valuables on Ring Road early on Sunday morning, when they were going home from the Lahore airport.

Four robbers in police fatigues were in a parked car on main Ring Road. A fifth one stood outside. Muhammad Ashraf, returning from Saudi Arabia, was the first expatriate to be robbed. In the next 15 minutes, the robbers stopped two other vehicles, robbing Umer Farooq, returning from Saudi Arabaia, and Arshad Imran, who had returned from Germany.

Muhammad Ashraf, first of the three expatriates to be robbed, told The Express Tribune that his family had come to the airport from Sheikhupura to receive him. “Soon after we got on Ring Road, a man in police uniform waved his gun at our car, asking us to stop. He asked my family and I to step out of the car.”

He said four men, also in police uniforms, got out of the car parked beside the man who had stopped them. “They were armed and took away 60,000 riyals, seven mobile phones, electronics and the jewellery my wife and mother were wearing.”

Ashraf said the five robbers hailed down two other cars and looted the passengers. “We learned after the robbers drove away that Umer Farooq had been deprived of 27,000 riyals and Arshad Imran of 2,000 euros.”

According to the FIR, which the witnesses claimed the police initially appeared hesitant to lodge, the robbers also took away three laptops, electronics and gold jewellery from the families of the last two victims.

To the victims’ charge that police had delayed lodging the case, North Cantt SHO Shabbir Awan said since there were three complainants stating the same issue the police had to record their statements separately which took time. “One of the complainants reached the police station late due to which the FIR registration was delayed.” He said the incident took place around 5:30am and the FIR lodged before 11am against unidentified persons.

The victims also alleged that a police vehicle was patrolling the service lane along Ring Road and they had alerted the patrolling policemen, but they continued with their unhurried patrol. SHO Awan said Ring Road was patrolled by a separate policing outfit and Lahore police usually did not respond to emergency situations there. However, FIRs of crimes committed on Ring Road were lodged at his station, he said. He rejected the claim that any police vehicle was patrolling the area when the robbery occurred.

Operations DIG Rana Abdul Jabbar told The Express Tribune that a special police team, headed by Cantonment Superintendent Sarfraz Virk, had been constituted to patrol Ring Road at night, check private and police vehicles and verify the official identity of the policemen on Ring Road. He said Ring Road police had been directed to increase patrolling.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 9^th, 2014.