KARACHI: Police on Monday arrested four suspects who had snatched Rs35 million from a gold trader of Lahore on February 2.

South DIG Sharjeel Kharal said that the four suspects — Mohammed Tahir, Salman, Zafar Husain and Mohsin Ali — were arrested and Rs4.6m and four pistols were recovered from their custody.

South SSP (Investigation) Dr Farrukh Raza said: “Arrested persons are habitual offenders. They were given the task and were told that the bag contains files and they need to snatch them, for which they will be given Rs5m, which was received by them.”

They had been arrested in the past and sent to jail ‘several times’, he added.

Speaking at a press conference, DIG Kharal said that complainant Abu Bakar Siddiqui was a jeweller at Sarafa bazar Lahore and he along with his employee came at the Gold Trade Centre Karachi for selling the gold worth approximately Rs35m.

The trader was on his way to the Cantonment Railway Station in a rickshaw when the held suspects riding two motorcycles intercepted them on gunpoint, snatched the bag and rode away.

He said, initially, the police were ‘surprised’ and raised questions as to how such a huge money was being taken in a rickshaw, but it turned out to be a genuine case.

He said efforts were under way to arrest the person(s) who leaked such information to the robbers. The robbery victim has been informed in Lahore.

Published in Dawn, March 1st, 2022