KARACHI, June 19: Five policemen looted around Rs57 million — Rs40 million and $200,000 — from a man who was taking the huge amount of the so-called Hawala money to Quetta in a passenger bus on Sunday, police said.

Although the incident took place at about 9am on Sunday, the victim, who was carrying the money, came to the police station at about 1pm to report the robbery incident.

Mauripur police station SHO Inspector Bahauddin Babar told Dawn that a case (FIR 221/2011) was registered on a complaint of victim Atta Muhammad against five policemen under Sections 395 (punishment for robbery) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

He said the complainant told the police that he lived in a Tariq Road area and was engaged in the Hawala trade as a carrier.

The SHO said the complainant told the police that he along with two other carriers — Shah Khalid and Shah Fahad — collected Rs40 million cash and $200,000 in the morning and then he came to Saddar to board a Quetta-bound passenger coach.

The coach left the Saddar terminal at about 8.15am and reached the Northern Bypass to leave Karachi. At about 9am, the victim stated in the FIR, a police mobile van overtook the coach and blocked its path. Some policemen boarded the bus, saw the complainant and hauled him from the bus. They also took along his luggage that included the bags filled with the huge amount of money and ordered the coach driver to move on.

All the policemen were in uniform, but the police van did not bear any number, the complainant said, adding that two policemen were seated in the front cabin of the mobile van while three policemen held him at gunpoint in the rear portion of the vehicle. Later, the policemen threw the complainant out of the mobile van and sped away with his luggage.

The area SHO told Dawn that the complainant informed the police that he had contacted his employer in Quetta and told him about the incident.

The complainant told the police that he could identify three of the five policemen.

About the money, he said that about Rs4.5 million was in the form of currency notes of Rs5,000 denomination, while the remaining amount was in Rs1,000 denomination. The 200,000 dollars were in the form of notes of $100 denomination.

The area SHO said that it was premature to say whether the men involved in the incident belonged to the police. “We are investigating the matter and have lodged an FIR of the incident. The complainant and the other two carriers were also associated in the process of investigation.”

He said that the driver of the coach, who was later in Quetta, was also contacted over the phone and he told the police that he saw two police vehicles at the time of the incident.

“We will also inform the Federal Investigation Agency about the incident to investigate the transfer of such a huge amount of money, as the complainant told us that he was transporting the Pakistani currency to Quetta while the dollars were to be sent to Kandahar in Afghanistan,” said SHO Babar.