NAB arrests land mafia operative for defrauding 1,100 citizens

Officials of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Karachi on Tuesday claimed to have arrested an operative of a land mafia who had defrauded many citizens.

The spokesman for the NAB Karachi said officials of the bureau arrested Haji Adam Jokhio wanted as accused in an inquiry. Jokhio allegedly cheated public at large by defrauding around 1,100 allottees of their rightful ownership by booking plots in their names and receiving huge sums in 1992.

He had been defrauding the allottees for the last 27 years during which the value of land had increased manifold. The project launched under the name of Gulshan-e-Dozan by him suffered illegalities on various counts, while the land of 70 acres was also illegal. The value of land is approximately Rs3.5 billion.

Jokhio being part of a land mafia has been operating for decades in usurping government lands and cheating public at large, according to the NAB spokesman.

The land which was booked for various allottees was further sold by the accused to another builder where another project was being launched, instead of handing over the plots to the allottees. The administrative judge of the accountability courts on Tuesday remanded the suspect in the custody of NAB for allegedly defrauding 1,100 people in a land scam on the outskirts of Karachi, from which he allegedly minted Rs3.5 billion.