Woman, two men held as ‘Reborn Gang’ busted

The Sharea Faisal police on Sunday arrested three criminals, a woman and two men, who had been involved in multiple house robberies in the city.

The three-member group had gained infamy as the ‘Reborn Gang’ due to their use of a Honda Civic model of the same name for their criminal activities. As per details, the Sharea Faisal police arrested three suspects — identified as gang leader Nida and her accomplices Sameer and Rizwanuddin — in an operation conducted in an area of Gulistan-e-Jauhar falling in their limits.

Officials said the three suspects had been taken in for interrogation and due legal process would be followed in the case. Sharing details of the gang’s crimes, an officer said their method was largely based on deceiving good-hearted citizens.  

“These three – Nida, Sameer and Rizwanuddin – would drive up to the selected house in their Honda Civic. They would make sure that the two men are not visible in the car as Nida alone would get off and ring the house bell to ask the residents for a drink of water or any other sort of assistance,” the officer explained.

“The car they used is among the better and expensive ones available in Pakistan. Couple that status symbol with a woman in apparent distress and one has quite the formula to trick innocent citizens.

More often than not, the person answering the door would invite Nida inside or head back in themselves to get whatever she had asked for, depending on the gang’s ruse. That would be Sameer and Rizwanuddin’s chance to barge in and the gang would then get down to their real business,” he added.   

The cop said the gang had mostly operated in Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Gulistan-e-Jauhar and PIA Society and there were multiple FIRs registered against them. “Nida and Sumair were the ones who would sell off the loot. They told us during interrogation that they would sell gold and other valuable ornaments at different jewellery shops and give the money for investment to Rizwanuudin, who was involved in the construction business.”

Delving into the gang’s history, the officer said their first leader was Nida’s late husband, a man named Mohammad Rizwan. “There were old cases against the gang in which Nida is a named absconder. A few years back, her husband, Rizwan, had been arrested in a joint AVCC and CTD operation and was released from prison after completing his sentence. He had died soon after his release; while Nida claims he had taken his own life, Rizwan’s father says his son was murdered.”

After yesterday’s arrests, new FIRs were registered against the three accused by the Sharea Faisal police. A pistol with live ammunition had also been seized by the police.