RAWALPINDI: Paris resident Sarwar Ahmed was robbed of 12,000 euros by individuals impersonating intelligence officials soon after he arrived at Benazir Bhutto International Airport (BBIA).

Mr Ahmad landed in Islamabad on a PIA flight from Paris. After he realised he had not received all his luggage, he was informed that a missing suitcase would arrive within a couple of days.

Mr Ahmad then left for Mandi Bahauddin in an APC van sent to pick him up from the airport. He said the van was passing through Rawat when another car with three passengers forced the driver to stop.

“When the van stopped, the car passengers asked the driver to show them his licence, and then they called me and asked me to show them my passport,” he said.

He said one of the passengers was holding a wireless set, and asked him to see his passport and search his hand luggage.

“They took 12,000 euros, which is equal to Rs1.5 million, while searching the hand bag, and asked the driver to drive,” Mr Ahmad said.

He said he then went to the Rawat police station, and was told the scene of the crime was outside the police station’s limits and that he would have to report the ordeal to Mandra police.

“It took me two days to lodge a complaint with the Rawat police, who finally registered an FIR, but the chances of getting the money back seem low,” he said.

In another incident, two women were robbed at gunpoint by two individuals on a motorcycle in the Airport police area.

Wasim Ali, the complainant in the case, told the police his wife and sister were on their way home in a rickshaw when they were held up by two unidentified individuals on a motorcycle, who robbed them off their purses and the gold jewellery they were wearing.

Published in Dawn, February 4th, 2017