September 20, 2007	Thursday	Ramazan 07, 1428

ISLAMABAD, Sept 19: The Margalla police have booked the son of a GHQ official on the charge of possessing a fake driving licence of the Islamabad traffic police (ITP).

Inspector Mohammad Ashraf Kahut, of the ITP, lodged a complaint with the Margalla police that the driving licence of Mohammad Omer Farooq, the son of an XEN (executive engineer) at the GHQ, was found fake on September 17.

When contacted, the inspector told Dawn that the licence was seized by the traffic police after Farooq was found violating traffic rule (driving motorcycle without wearing helmet) at Peshawar Mor.

A naib qasid of the GHQ came to Zone III office of the ITP to collect the licence after depositing the fine at a bank. However, the policeman got suspicious about the authenticity of the licence and sent it to the traffic police office for verification, where it was found fake.

The fake licence showed 2005 as its issue date and SSP Mohammad Zubair Hashmi as the issuing authority instead of SSP Dr Sultan Azam Temuri which headed the ITP at that time.

Earlier, Farooq was served with a fine ticket for driving a motorcycle bearing an-applied-for registration plate.

The police have registered a case but have yet to question the accused.

Earlier, some cases of fake driving licences were registered with the Margalla police; however, the police failed to trace a single person involved in the crime.

According to the police, some gangs were making fake driving licences of the ITP against the payment of Rs3,500 to Rs5,000.