April 22, 2007	Sunday	Rabi-us-Sani 04, 1428

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SIALKOT, April 21: Some people are reportedly in action in Sialkot and Sambrial making the most of the troubling times for clients of Sibtul Hassan, alias Double Shah. They offer Shah’s clients to get 50 percent of their deposits in return for their Double Shah’s slips. Those exploiting the situation are mostly traders, jewellers and moneychangers.

Double Shah hit the headlines two years ago for his scheme which offers a 100-percent profit on sums deposited with him in 70 days. Police arrested him on April 13 for a number of offences.

Since his arrest, Double Shah’s clients have protested furiously against the police action as they fear that government’s intervention into Double Shah’s scheme would put their deposits at stake.

Seeing uncertainty among the clients, these agents working underground have contacted the clients and offered them a 50-percent return of their actual amounts in exchange for their deposit’s slips signed by Double Shah.

Something is better than nothing, said a young man who bargained with such an agent to grab the 50 percent of his sum deposited with Double Shah.

An agent told Dawn that a large number of clients had benefited from their 50-50 scheme. He said in fat they were also doing a risky investment by buying Double Shah’s slips as they were not sure if law-enforcers would retrieve the money from Double Shah and give it to his clients.

GUJRANWALA: A team consisting of police and National Accountability Bureau officials continued cracking down on the agents of Sibtul Hassan, alias Double Shah, in Wazirabad and its suburbs and arrested half a dozen of them on Saturday.

Over 100 agents have reportedly been working for Double Shah for two years.

Double Shah reportedly gave them Rs5,000 commission for a Rs100,000 collection. The NAB deputy director and police officers said that money would be returned to the clients after recovering the sum from the accused and his agents.

Also, depositors have not submitted their claims to police stations to avoid complications as they fear that income tax teams would interrogate them. Only 300 people have submitted their claims worth Rs60 million at Ghakkhar police station in four days.