KARACHI, March 18: The Anti-Dacoity and Robbery Cell (ADRC) on Sunday claimed to have arrested one of the three suspects of a high-profile robbery in Moenjodaro in which the robbers had decamped with 40 ancient seals.
ADRC officials said they arrested a suspect identified as Aijaz Ali Tunio from the Chaker Hotel on the Super Highway on a tip-off. During preliminary interrogation, he confessed to being one of the three armed burglars who broke into the Moenjodaro Museum on May 9, 2002 and took away 39 ancient seals from the premises.
The incident was the first of its kind in the 82-year life of the museum, said an archaeology expert.
An ADRC official said the trio involved in the robbery, the other two were identified as Ali Dost Brohi and Mumtaz Brohi, went to Quetta along with the precious items from where they entered Afghanistan.
“They managed to flee to Dubai where they sold the precious seals,” Ghulam Sarwar Abro, DSP (Admn) of the ADRC said quoting the information they got during interrogation.
“The suspect has informed us that he is still in contact with his accomplices through telephone,” said the police official.
The police said the same gang was involved in some other high-profile criminal acts and further investigations were under way. The suspects are claimed to have contacts with some ‘important political personalities of Sindh and Balochistan’.
According to an FIR lodged at the Moenjodaro police station, three men armed with automatic weapons and carrying an iron ladder and equipment needed for cutting glass and iron bars broke into the museum building. It said the men used the ladder to reach the second floor of the museum from the outside, cut through the iron fence and entered the hall. They cut the glass showcases 21 and 22 and stole 39 of the museum's 125 ancient seals before their work was interrupted by the building's watchman.
The watchman, Ghulam Nabi Machhi, had told the police that he challenged the intruders after "I heard some strange sounds". He said the men opened fire at him. "I responded but only after they injured my leg and escaped with the pieces stuffed in their bags," he said.
The then custodian of the museum, Saeed Jatoi, said it was the first incident of its kind in the history of the museum, which was established in 1925 under the British rule.
“I was shocked by the incident. Even in the 1980s when these areas were infested with dacoits no one ever tried to rob Sindh of its history," said an archaeologist.
The police, after the incident and shooting, found scissors, a leather bag, a cooler, 16 bullets and a magazine at the site. The ladder was used to reach the second floor and the burglars abandoned it when they were forced to escape after being detected.
DSP Abro said the seals were invaluable but they must have a market value of not less than 50 million rupees.
MOBILE SNATCHERS HELD: In another raid, an ADRC team arrested three alleged mobile phone snatchers near Defence Market in the DHA and seized three TT pistols, a loaded magazine, 10 mobile phones and gold ornaments from their possession. Later, they recovered a stolen TV set from their den in Korangi.
The suspects were identified as Ashraf alias Baboo, Tariq and Shakeel. According to police officials, Baboo was leader of the gang of half-a-dozen members, all young and belonging to Zia Colony and Nasir Colony of Korangi.
“We have also found that they had got the TT pistols on rent from some individuals and we are looking for them,” said a police official.
