Justice served: Two extortionists sent to jail for five years

The convicts had demanded protection money from a former Air Force officer.

KARACHI: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) sentenced on Thursday two extortionists to five years’ imprisonment and also imposed a fine of Rs50,000 on each of them.

The ATC-I convicted Imran Raza Rizvi and Muhammad Tahir of demanding extortion and threatening to murder the complainant, Nisar Ahmed Khan - a finance manager at an ex-servicemen golf club, and his family.

According to the prosecution, Khan, who is also a retired Air Force officer, received a call on his mobile at around midnight on December 24, 2012. The caller, without identiying himself, asked him to collect a parcel from his doorstep and then disconnected the call.

The following morning, Khan found a red-coloured parcel, made up of cloth, near his car porch. The parcel, boasting slogans of Jiye Uzair Baloch and Jiye Lyari, had two bullets and a chit stating the extortion demand of Rs500,000 as life-saving money.  Later, Khan received another phone call from the extortionist who demanded Rs3.5million as protection money for all of his seven family members.

The caller also threatened to attack his house with a hand grenade, if he delayed the payment. Khan, however, replied that he could only pay Rs200,000 and needed time for it. Meanwhile, Khan informed the police about the incident and a team was formed to apprehend the criminals. Rizvi and Tahir were arrested red-handed when they came to collect the extortion money.

The judge, Bashir Ahmed Khoso, convicted them under Section 7(h) of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), 1997, read with Section 6(k) of the ATA.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 23^rd, 2015.