Former minister’s house in DHA robbed

Former provincial minister Shabbir Qaimkhani’s house was robbed on Wednesday afternoon by six thieves who made away with Rs500,000 cash and gold worth almost the same amount. 

The house of the ex-Sindh minister for excise and taxation, who is also a former member of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s coordination committee, is situated on Khayaban-e-Saadi in Phase 7 of Defence Housing Authority. 

Sharing details of Qaimkhani’s statement, Gizri police SHO Arshad Janjua said the former minister was sitting in the house’s lounge with his family members when five to six armed men barged in and held them hostage at gunpoint. He said the robbery lasted for around 20 minutes. 

District South SSP Javed Akbar Riaz said the police and the victim were suspecting the involvement of an insider as the robbers, who had covered their faces, completed their task speedily which suggested that they knew where the cash and gold were kept in the house.

SSP Riaz said Qaimkhani told the police that his gardener came to the house daily in the evening but had showed up in the day yesterday. The police have taken the gardener into custody for interrogation.

Responding to a question, SSP Riaz said that no camera was installed at Qaimkhani’s residence but police had retrieved footage from a CCTV camera installed at a nearby house. However, the suspects cannot be seen in the footage, he added. He said a case had been registered and the police were trying to acquire CCTV footage from cameras installed at other houses.