Two gangs of dacoits looting expats busted; booty, arms seized

LAHORE
CCPO Muhammad Amin Wains has said Investigation Wing of Lahore Police has arrested nine members of two gangs involved in dacoity and snatching of vehicles and looting local and foreign currency from overseas Pakistanis wearing FIA uniform.
Police recovered illegal arms and looted articles worth more than Rs 1.5 crore. The CCPO disclosed this while addressing a press conference at Police Lines Qila Gujjar Singh on Wednesday. Acting DIG Investigation Rana Ayaz Saleem, SP Civil Lines Investigation Faisal Mukhtar, SP Investigation Sadar Amara Ather, SP Investigation Model Town Dr Rizwan and SP CIRO Umar Riaz Cheema were present. Narrating the details about the arrested dacoits, Muhammad Amin Wains said three accused of Tiger Gang Akhtar Hussain alias Tiger, Aslam Khan and Ali Javed are professional criminals and their families are involved in dacoity and looting whereas other members of the gang have also committed similar crimes in Greece and Italy and remained in jails. In this way it is an international gang, he added.
He said the father of the accused Sher Khan is also in Adiyala Jail due to drugs trafficking whereas women of this family are also involved in crimes. He said the accused during investigation have admitted more than 80 crimes of looting money from the citizens outside money changers and banks and also from the people coming to Pakistan from abroad at Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad whereas Satto Katla police have recovered two cars valuing Rs 50 lakh, dollars, pounds, Saudi riyals and Pakistan currency, mobile phones, I-Pads, bogus identity cards, number plates and illegal weapons from the accused.
Amin Wains said the accused were arrested due to joint efforts of SP Investigation Sadar Amara Ather and SP Civil Lines Investigation Faisal Mukhtar and their teams. Giving more details, CCPO said SP Investigation, Model Town, and his team have arrested six dangerous dacoits of Ashraf alias Achu Odh gang Ashraf alias Achu, Javed Iqbal alias Jaida, Afzaal Ahmed alias Jala, Muhammad Irfan, Liaqat Ali and Safdar alias Ghora. He said besides looting citizens at gunpoint, these accused took away truck going outside truck stands at gunpoint and after selling the goods in various areas of the cities, also sold the truck in tribal areas. On pointing out by the accused, police recovered eight Mazda trucks worth Rs 1.25 crore, ten mobile phones, cash of five lakh rupees and illegal weapons.
Muhammad Amin Wains told the journalists that the accused have also admitted more than 50 crimes of dacoity, robbery and snatching of vehicles committed in Lahore, Kasur, Sheikhupura and Okara districts whereas a dozen of cases of dacoity and robbery have also been traced in the districts against them.
Replying to a question about the investigation of a fake police encounter registered in Islampura against police officials of Nawab Town, CCPO said a letter had been written for judicial inquiry of the incident and police will also investigate this case on merit and if any police official was found guilty, legal action will be taken against him. Replying to a question regarding open sale of uniforms of police and FIA, he said a strategy is also being evolved in this regard and a crackdown will be launched in the city against those supplying uniforms to criminals. Replying to a question about the arrest of absconders, CCPO said that a large number of absconders were involved in the cases of money disputes whereas the number of absconders involved in heinous crimes was comparatively low out of which most of them had been arrested while police teams were making efforts to arrest the remaining accused. About the question of security of markets, banks and other business centres during Ramazan, Amin Wains said that more than ten thousand police officers and officials are performing security duties at mosques, Imambargahs, markets, banks and other business centres. He hoped that Lahore police will spare no effort and utilise all out resources for ensuring security of people at markets, trade and business centres, maintaining law and order and protecting life and property of the citizens.