Ex-cop, three others held with Rs3.3m extortion money

KARACHI: The District Malir police have arrested four people, including a dismissed cop, for their involvement in extorting people on highways, and also recovered Rs3.3 million of the extorted money from them.

SSP Irfan Ali Bahadur said they had been receiving complaints about policemen extorting people on highways, particularly the National Highway, the link road in the Steel Town police jurisdiction, especially drivers transporting diesel upcountry.

He said he ordered his subordinates to expand their intelligence network, adding that late on Saturday night they were tipped off about the suspects being present on the link road, following which mobiles were despatched to the spot and the police saw that the suspects had stopped a container carrying diesel.

When the police ordered the suspects to surrender, they opened fire on the police, but retaliatory fire resulted in the arrest of all the four suspects, identified as dismissed cop Mir Afzal, Nazakat, Burhan and Saleem.