BAHAWALNAGAR: The station house officer of the Mandi Sadiq Ganj Police Station has been removed from his post and an inquiry has been initiated against him on charges of stealing seized narcotics worth millions recovered from drug peddlers during a raid last week.

According to police sources, an influential woman drug trafficker was arrested from Mohallah Islamnagar along with her two sons, Babar and Amir, with 20kg heroin worth Rs150m during a raid under the supervision of Mandi Sadiq Ganj SHO Sub-Inspector (SI) Shafiqur Rahman on Nov 24.

Police sources said the SHO misinformed his high-ups about the quantity of seized heroin, cutting it to 14kg from the actual 20kg. However, he admitted to taking 3.6kg of heroin from the recovered narcotics when the ASP/DSP Minchinabad Abdul Hannan inquired from him on Nov 25.

After the SHO’s confession, he was removed from his seat on Nov 26 while an unofficial probe against him and Constable Sohail was launched. The SHO was removed from the police station on Dec 2.

The officer is also accused of distorting facts to weaken the case against the woman. The sources said that after giving relief to the gang leader, police booked her sons for possession of 17.6kg narcotics like powder.

ASP/DSP Minchinabad Abdul Hannan as well as his spokesperson avoided to comment on the matter. DPO Bahawalnagar Zafar Buzdar was also not available.

Published in Dawn, December 5th, 2021