KARACHI: Police on Saturday took into custody three men on charges of ‘misbehaving and fraud’ with an American vlogger at the Seaview beach after the video of the incident went viral on social media.

SSP-South Rai Ijaz Ahmed said the men, who owned a horse, allegedly misbehaved with Dale Philip as they first demanded Rs200 for horse riding, but later forced him to pay Rs5,000.

The tourist made a video and uploaded it on social media. Later, the Darakhshan police took action and arrested Jehanzeb, Maqsood and Ahsanullah.

The police said it was the second incident at the Seaview beach in recent time where a foreign tourist was subjected to such an undesirable behaviour by horse owners.

Police say suspects forced him to pay extra after horse ride

The SSP recalled that on March 8, horse owner Zubair had misbehaved with an Australian tourist, identified as Luke Damant, and demanded more money when he finished horse riding.

He said that in both the cases, the complainants appeared reluctant to take legal action against the held suspects. However, they had appreciated the police for taking what he called a prompt action.

The American tourist in his social media post stated: “He [horse owner] tried to earn a living by cheating people but now he’s living behind metal bars thanks to Karachi police. I hope he learns that there is no need to cheat foreign tourists. Most foreigners will give extra at the time of payment if they were shown a good experience and were treated in an honest way.”

The officer said that the suspects had apologised in both the cases.

In view of such incidents, the SSP said that they decided to conduct a survey of all horse owners at the Clifton beach along with Cantonment Board Clifton and deputy commissioner, South.

He said that a code of conduct would be issued and legal action would be taken against anyone found violating it.

Published in Dawn, March 20th, 2022