Two Chinese men jailed for ATM fraud

A court awarded one year’s imprisonment to two Chinese nationals on Monday for withdrawing money from an ATM machine through a skimming device.

The judicial magistrate (South) convicted the two Chinese men of fraud and imposed on them a fine of Rs50,000 each. Earlier, the court heard arguments from the counsel for the defendants and the prosecutors.

The prosecutors said Zhong Xiaming and Zhong Xianquan were involved in withdrawing cash fraudulently from ATM machines by using skimming devices. The two had been arrested in Defence Housing Authority last year. Staffers of a bank had caught four Chinese nationals, but two of them had run away. The other two had been handed over to FIA authorities.

According to the charges, the accused placed the devices over ATM slots and scanned the magnetic strips of cards inserted by customers. The skimming devices had hidden cameras that filmed the PIN numbers.

According to Investigation Officer Akbar Khan, another six Chinese nationals have been arrested in recent months for similar frauds. Similar incidents have been reported in other Pakistani cities. Yu Genjo, Zu Zhuping, Zing Q Ping, Zhong Sheven and other Chinese nationals were caught in different areas of the city, including Zainab Market, Tipu Sultan Road and DHA. Investigators recovered Chinese currency worth Rs650,000 from the possession of one of the accused, Xu Zhuping.

26 MQM activists

An anti-terrorism court (ATC) fixed February 17 to record the investigation officer’s statement in the cases pertaining to charges of possession of illegal arms against 26 Muttahida Qaumi Movement activists.

As many as 250 illicit arms, including machine guns and pistols, were found in the possession of Amir alias Amir Sarphata, Faisal alias Faisal Mota, Amir Teli, Ubaid alias Ubaid K2 and others after the Rangers had raided the MQM headquarters, Nine Zero, and adjoining areas on March 11, 2015.

The complainant in the case, a Rangers’ official, in his statement said the seized arms had matched with the forensic report. The court would now record the investigation officer’s statement at the next hearing.

Double murder case

In a double murder case against another MQM worker, Liaquat alias KESC Wala, a court fixed February 1 to record the statements of witnesses. The court took serious note of the absence of any witnesses and ordered the relevant officials to withhold the monthly salary of Sub-Inspector Saeed Ahmed for his negligence.

The IO said he had made a witness duty-bound to appear before the court to submit evidence but he did not show up. Liaquat alias KESC Wala is alleged to have killed a police officer, ASI Ejaz Khokhar, and a citizen, Kamran.