Five people ‘robbing bank customers for 10 years’ arrested

Police on Thursday announced the arrest of four men and a woman who were allegedly involved in snatching cash from customers outside banks.

Addressing a press conference, Crime Investigation Agency (CIA) city chief DIG Dr Jameel Ahmed said a team comprising officers of the CIA and the Anti-Violent Crime Cell (AVCC) conducted a raid near the State Bank of Pakistan’s branch in North Nazimabad and nabbed three suspects who were identified as Zafar Hussain, Syed Ashar Ali and Syed Baqar Zaidi. 

The CIA city chief said the suspects disclosed names of their accomplices during interrogation. Zafar Hussain's son, Sarfaraz alias Vicky, and his wife Ghazala Zafar had also been arrested, he added.

He said the suspects had been involved in snatching cash from bank customers in the Nazimabad and Gulistan-e-Jauhar areas for the last 10 years. Zafar Hussain told police that he had been recruited in the Sindh police as a constable in 1988 but dismissed from service because of his alleged involvement in criminal activities, he added.

“Following Zafar’s dismissal from service, he along with his son, Sarfaraz, wife Ghazala and his brother-in-law started looting cash from bank customers,” DIG Ahmed added. “The suspects also told police that Ghazala used to stand outside banks to act as a lookout and inform his gang members about movement of bank customers.”

Ahmed said the suspects had confessed to snatching cash from citizens during the last ten years. He said a 30 bore pistol with six live rounds was found on Zafar, a 30 bore pistol with five live rounds was found on Ashar, and a 30 bore TT pistol and six live rounds was in Baqar’s possession.

The CIA and the AVCC had registered cases against the arrested suspects for carrying illegal weapon, he added. Concluding his briefing, the CIA city chief said the police were making efforts to arrest other robbers involved in bank-related crimes.

A day earlier, police arrested two suspects who were allegedly involved in robbing a bank situated in the city’s Kharadar area. Under the supervision of DSP Zahid Hussain Siddiqui, police said, a team had been tasked with arresting perpetrators who looted an Al Baraka Bank branch on August 9 this year.

After completing due diligence and consolidating the information collected, the police team apprehended two suspects who were identified as Maqsood Ahmed and Zahid Mehmood, police said, adding that Rs135,000 and two TT pistols were found in their possession.

 

During interrogation in an investigation unit, the suspects disclosed the names of their three associates, police said, adding that a hunt had been launched to nab the remaining robbers.  The two men also confessed to commit over 200 robberies in different parts of the city, police said. They had earlier been arrested eight times but they had obtained bail every single time, police added.