Law and order: Police arrest gang wanted for 30 robberies

Police said on Sunday that the gang members hailed from Jalalabad, Afghanistan, and had settled in Cheechawatni, from where they carried out several high profile robberies all over the country. The police had been tracking them for over six months.

Sahiwal District Police Office Syed Khurram Ali Shah told The Express Tribune that he had assigned four teams headed by inspectors to catch the robbers. “We have finally caught them,” he said. “The gang had more than 20 members and we suspect that they were using the stolen money to finance terrorist activities in the Punjab.”

Saddar SHO Muhammad Saeed, Ghalla Mandi SHO Farrukh Javed, Kameer SHO Mehmoodul Hassan Sindhu and CIA Inspector Zafar Dogar had conducted 53 raids as part of their operation during the last six months.

The DPO said they had seized Rs10 million and a large cache of weapons from the gang members. He said the criminals will be presented before a magistrate on Monday. He said they were currently in police custody at the Saddar police station, Cheechawatni. He said they had tightened security around the police station. It will remain on high alert till the robbers have been transferred to a prison, he said. A policeman requesting anonymity said that all the police officials who were part of the crackdown had received death threats from phone numbers traced to Afghanistan and the KPK.

The Jewellers’ Association of Sahiwal has announced that it will carry out a demonstration to show members’ gratitude towards the police for arresting the robbers. The association has said that it will present shields and prizes to the police officials who were part of the operation.

Jewellers Association president Hafiz Muhammad Bilal said the jewellers in the area were very thankful to the government and the police for providing the jewellers security and arresting the robbers that had plagued them for so long.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 31^st, 2014.