FAISALABAD, April 9: The main character of a financial scam of the Faisalabad Dryport's laboratory disappeared from the scene mysteriously on Friday, a day after he was arrested.

Reports said a team of the Customs department's Anti-Smuggling Organization rounded up Upper Divisional Clerk Muhammad Asif of the dryport's laboratory on the charge of appropriating millions of rupees and receiving bribes from the exporters for issuing clearance certificates.

During interrogation, he confessed his crime after which he was taken to his house at Nankana Sahib to recover the embezzled amount and documents. On Friday, the Customs officials claimed that the suspect had managed to escape from the dryport office by hoodwinking the investigators. A formal complaint was lodged with the area police for his arrest.

When contacted, Customs Deputy Collector Saeed Wattoo denied the allegations levelled by the suspect's family that he had been tortured to death by the investigation team.

He said the bungling came to surface during a surprise inspection of the statements and record maintained by the suspect. He also denied that he (Asif) had been manhandled or tortured, saying the confessional statement and guarantee furnished by him was a proof of his misdemeanour.

Mr Wattoo said he didn't know how the suspect managed to flee. However, a formal complaint had been lodged with the police, who would now take appropriate action.

The suspect's brother Ghazanfar Ali Bhatti, on the other hand, had lodged a complaint with the Nankana Sahib police that the Customs officials took Asif to their home on Thursday night to interrogate him. Later, they took him to some unknown place and informed his relatives that he had escaped.

The complainant alleged that his brother was being tortured somewhere and being forced to confess crime, which he had not committed. Asif's relatives also alleged that he was forced to hand over a vehicle and furnish a guarantee of Rs900,000.

Meanwhile, a moharrar at the Chak Jhumra police station, in whose jurisdiction the dryport is situated, said no complaint or application had been moved by the Customs officials for the arrest of any person or registration of case.