Fake arms licenses scandal unearthed in Faisalabad

Five accused sacked, two under de-novo inquiry

FAISALABAD: A mega scandal of bogus arms licenses has been unearthed in Faisalabad by an inquiry committee constituted by the DCO.

The DCO formed the committee comprising the EDO (F&P), the District Officer (Coordination) and the District Officer (HRM) after the Nadra found some arms licenses bogus during their computerisation.

According to the inquiry report, seven employees - Maqsood Ahmad Zahid, Syed Muhammad Masood, Rana Babar Hussain, Peter Joseph, Saifur Rehman, Muhammad Afzal and Tanvir Hussain - of the DCO Office Arms Licensing Branch had allegedly issue 4,298 bogus arms licenses to various persons without verification of their credentials and thus extended support to the criminals, dacoits, robbers and even terrorists. The accused had also prepared 47 additional registers for entry of the bogus arms licenses.

The inquiry committee reported to the DCO that during verification process of arms licenses for computerisation by Nadra, 47 registers of the Arms Licensing Branch were checked and found bogus. As many as 1,389 fake licenses were issued from May 1, 2009 to May 27, 2009, 1,010 fake licenses on May 28, 2009 and 3,485 fake licenses on May 29. According to the inquiry report, the accused employees of the Arms Licensing Branch prepared licenses at their own, stamped them and affixed fake signatures of the competent officers and issued the same to different people after getting huge bribe from them. The report further says that the officials issued the fake licenses in connivance with various arms dealers of the district.

In the report, the Nadra has been directed not to issue computerised arms licenses to the holders of these bogus licenses. The inquiry committee has submitted its report to the DCO, who is also an ex-officio deputy director of the ACE under the Punjab Anti-Corruption Establishment Rules, 2014, and recommended that the fake arms licenses may be cancelled forthwith and the CPO may be asked to recover the illegal arms from the holders immediately. The inquiry committee has further recommended that the DCO may direct the Arms Licensing Branch officer-in-charge to make necessary entries of the bogus licenses as cancelled in the register. It has also recommended that the DCO may refer the case to the ACE Punjab director general for registration of a criminal case against the accused officials of the Arms Licensing Branch. Meanwhile, accused Syed Muhammad Masood and Tanvir Hussain are under de-novo inquiry while the other accused employees have been sacked in the light of the inquiry report.