$14,400 extorted from captain recovered from shipping company’s director

FIA Anti-Corruption Circle investigating officer Inspector Shahid Hussain has recovered $14,400 from Altaf Awan, the director of WMA Ship Care Company, which he had allegedly extorted from a foreign cargo ship captain through blackmail.

The director’s brother, Nadeem Awan, FIA ASI Attaullah Memon and Head Constable Zohaib Memon have already been arrested in a case (No. 1/25 ACC) registered on January 7 involving charges of taking bribery from ship crews and fraud by the shipping company.

The company’s owner, Captain Mushtaq, has also been issued with a notice, and a letter has been sent to customs authorities to cancel the company's licence. According to investigator Shahid Hussain, FIA officials Attaullah Memon and Zohaib Memon were allegedly involved in blackmailing ship crews and extorting large sums of money.

In one case, they were supposed to impose a fine of Rs500,000 per person (totaling Rs4 million) on eight illegally onboard technicians, but instead they allegedly settled the matter for just $2,000 by colluding with the ship’s crew. They also forged documents to change the technicians' designations. Later, at the time of the ship’s departure, they blackmailed the captain and extorted an additional $14,400.