Arrested bank robber has links to Afghanistan-based militants: IG

NOWSHERA: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Inspector General of Police, Sanaullah Abbasi said on Friday that those who tried to rob a commercial bank the previous day in the Pabbi town of Nowshera district had links to militants based in Afghanistan.

He was talking to the media after about the health of Head Constable Shakil Khan of the Riders Squad who was injured while foiling the Rs21 million robbery.

Deputy Inspector General of Police, Mardan, Yaseen Farooq and Nowshera District Police Officer Muhammad Iqbal accompanied the police chief.

A gang of three robbers had stormed a private bank in Pabbi on Thursday. The timely action by the cops and the bank’s security guards had foiled the robbery bid but Head Constable Shakil Khan was injured during the action.

The police chief said the Pabbi police had arrested the main accused in the heist with the cooperation of the bank security guard and local people.

He said the alleged robber now in police custody had been identified as Usman Ghani, son of Qadeem Khan, who was a resident of Darra Adamkhel town.

Sanaullah Abbasi said a gang of criminals had been robbing the banks for quite some time and had committed two robberies in Bara and one each in Kohat and Chamkani town of Peshawar.

The IG said during initial grilling the accused in the Pabbi robbery case had confessed to the crimes and said that he had been visiting Afghanistan and was working for Afghanistan-based militants.

Sanaullah Abbasi said the accused had confessed to killing a bank manager during a robbery in Chamkani town of Peshawar as well.

He said the suspect had divulged the names of his three accomplices, adding three pistols and two motorbikes used in the crime had been recovered from the accused. The police chief said efforts had been launched to arrest the accomplices of the accused.

Sanaullah Abbasi was all praise for the injured cop Shakil Khan, saying he foiled the robbery bid at the risk of his life. He announced to promote the injured cop and his other colleagues who had foiled the bank robbery.