Beware: Woman arrested for impersonating Ayesha Mumtaz

LAHORE:

Nishtar Colony police on Monday arrested a woman for extorting money from shopkeepers after introducing herself as Punjab Food Authority (PFA) Director Ayesha Mumtaz. Police also arrested Ijaz, Naeem and Jamil for helping Naheed Akhtar in the fraud.

Saeed, a police official, said the suspects had ‘raided’ shops in the Nishtar Colony bazaar on Monday and imposed Rs1,000, Rs3,000 and Rs5,000 ‘fines’ on some shopkeepers. When the shopkeepers complained, leaders of a traders’ union asked the team members to identify themselves. “They were handed over to police when it turned out that they were swindlers,” Saeed said. Commenting on the arrests, Ayesha Mumtaz said that if any shopkeeper was asked for money by a fake PFA team, he should register an FIR against it. She praised police for the arrests.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 1^st, 2015.