Eight CTD officials arrested after bail plea dismissed

Eight Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) officials were arrested after an anti-terrorism court (ATC) dismissed their bail applications in a kidnapping for ransom case.

CTD Inspector Shoaib Qureshi, Constable Sardar Rauf, driver Muhammad Khaleeq and informer Kashif Ali Khan have already been behind bars for alleged involvement in kidnapping two citizens for ransom within the jurisdiction of the Bilal Colony police station in June 2022.

The ATC-I judge announced his order on the bail applications of Sub-Inspector Younus Baloch and constables Muhammad Rizwan, Shakeel Lodhi, Abdul Jabbar, Khalid Mahmood, Zeeshan and Ali Hassan, who turned up in court on interim bail. He revoked their interim bail and ordered that they be taken into custody and shifted to the central jail.

According to the prosecution, Qureshi along with his subordinates allegedly abducted two citizens — Saad Shafiq and his builder friend Faizan — on June 5, 2022, who were later released after the payment of ransom.

An FIR was lodged at the Bilal Colony police station under the sections 365-A (kidnapping for extorting property, valuable security, etc), 384 (punishment for extortion), 385 (putting person in fear of injury in order to commit extortion) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) on the complaint of Shafiq, who stated in the FIR that he and his friend were abducted by Qureshi and other cops on June 5, 2022 and was released after payment of the ransom.