LAHORE: Police claimed on Wednesday to have busted two robbery gangs and arrested their nine members, who would specially target expatriates in Federal Investigation Agency uniform, recovering looted cash and stolen vehicles worth Rs15 million from them.

Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Amin Wains told a press conference held at Qila Gujjar Singh Police Lines that the gangs were also involved in dacoity and vehicle snatching.

Acting DIG (investigation) Rana Ayaz Saleem, Civil Lines SP Faisal Mukhtar, Sadar division SP Amara Ather, Model Town SP Dr Rizwan and SP Umar Riaz Cheema were also present.

The CCPO said the gangs were operating in police and FIA uniforms, adding that illegal arms and booty worth Rs15 million were recovered from the criminals.

He said three members of “Tiger gang” were arrested with their ringleader, Akhtar Husain alias Tiger, Aslam Khan and Ali Javed, who also confessed to have committed robberies in Greece and Italy.

He said the accused during investigation admitted committing more than 80 robberies in different areas of the city. He said they would mostly target people outside money exchange shops, banks and overseas Pakistanis leaving airport.

Mr Wains said Satto Katla police recovered two cars, foreign currency in dollars, pounds, Saudi riyals, local currency, mobile phones, I-Pads, bogus identity cards and number plates, besides illegal weapons from the suspects.

Similarly, he said, Model Town investigation police arrested six members of Odh gang along with its ringleader Ashraf alias Achu, Javed Iqbal alias Jaida, Afzaal Ahmed alias Jala, Irfan, Liaqat Ali and Safdar alias Ghora.

He said on the information gleaned from the suspects, who confessed to committing 50 robberies, police also recovered eight trucks, 10 mobile phones, Rs50,0000 cash and illegal weapons.

He said strict action would be taken against those involved in selling uniforms of different security agencies to irrelevant people.

Mr Wains said more than 10,000 policemen were performing security duties at different mosques, imambargahs, markets, banks and other business centres.

Published in Dawn, June 25th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play