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| March 12, 2007 | Monday | Safar 22, 1428 |
Ex-CIA man, wife held for running sex racket
ISLAMABAD, March 11: A former Crime Investigation Agency (CIA) constable and his wife have been arrested in the city, along with two accomplices, for allegedly running a racket in which beggar girls were kidnapped and sent to brothels in the Gulf.
Police went into action after the Supreme Court took suo motu notice of a complaint filed by the father of an abducted girl, and the UAE authorities in Sharjah jailed two Pakistani girls on prostitution charges.
Mohammad Qasim, a crippled beggar himself, said in his complaint that his five-member family survived on the alms he earned and the flowers his daughters Nazia, 18, and Shazia, 13, could sell at road crossings in Rawalpindi and Islamabad.
Human traffickers kidnapped Nazia one day while she was selling flowers outside the District Courts, Rawalpindi, leaving her disabled younger sister behind.
The four suspects arrested by the Islamabad police had been put on Exit Control List (ECL) while Interpol was being approached to bring back the two jailed girl beggars from Sharjah.
Police named the arrested persons as Rafaqat Bhatti, a former constable of CIA police, his wife Akhtar Perveen alias Peno, Allah Rakha alias Sataro and Anis alias Heera - have been sent to Adiala jail.
Taking action on Mohammad Qasim’s complaint, the Supreme Court had directed District Police Officer (DPO) Rawalpindi Saud Aziz to submit a report on the kidnapping of the beggar girl. The DPO informed the court that the scene of offence fell in the jurisdiction of Islamabad.
Later, the case was transferred to the Inspector General of Police Islamabad which led to the registration of an FIR with the Sabzi Mandi police under Protection of Women Act 2006.
A police team headed by Superintendent of Police (SP) Investigation Ishfaq Ahmed Khan was formed to investigate the case.
During investigation, it was revealed that a former CIA police official of the investigation wing, Rafaqat Bhatti, and his wife were directly involved in the “shameful trade” of young beggar and flower selling girls.
Police sources said Rafaqat Bhatti had been dismissed from police service due to his immoral conduct.
After preliminary investigation, it was discovered that Nazia was kidnapped by accused Akhtar Perveen, Rafaqat Bhatti, Allah Rakha and Anis, who took her to the UAE impersonating her as Shama.
The main accused Perveen lured the young flower wander to Muridke, and introduced the girl as her real sister.
Later, she took her to the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) offices and got her an identity card in the name of Shama, daughter of her father Mohammad Shafi. Afterwards, the abducted girl was issued a passport on the fake CNIC.
Nazia was sent abroad on fake documents and was sold out for prostitution in Dubai. Several other girls have also been sent abroad for prostitution after being abducted by the same gang.
Allah Rakha alias Sataro and his niece, who had been running the human trafficking gang, used to kidnap young girls from different parts of Rawalpindi and Islamabad and sent them to UAE after introducing them as drama artists.
Upon reaching there, they used to force the girls into prostitution.
SP Investigation wing Ashfaq Ahmad Khan told Dawn that the case might be transferred to the Federal Investigation Agency after the repatriation of the two imprisoned girls on completion of their sentence.
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