BAHAWALNAGAR: A policeman has accused his seniors of letting three bike lifter gang members and their accomplices working under the guise of scrap dealers go scot-free after he unearthed the gang and arrested five members.

He also seized five motorcycles and parts of other stolen ones from their custody about two weeks ago.

Sub-Inspector Maqbool of Saddar police told Dawn that about two weeks ago, during his posting at the B-Division police, he arrested bike lifter gang leader Umar alias Umri in Bahawalnagar city and recovered five stolen motorcycles from his custody.

Later, another gang member, Ameer Hamza, was arrested and they pointed out that several of their accomplices were working under the guise of scrap dealers across the district.

Complainant is none other than SI who arrested five suspects

The official said that after getting evidence about their involvement in vehicles theft, he raided scrap shops and arrested Ahmed and Altaf in Bagra and Jhullan Araian areas, and recovered chassis numbers and parts of stolen motorcycles from them.

The arrested gang members, during the investigation, revealed that several other accomplices worked in Chishtian and other areas, he claimed. He said he was devotedly working on the case and close to busting the gang when suddenly he was ordered to stop working on this case by the B-Division SHO and the investigation was handed over to SI Faraz Aslam.

He said later the scrap dealers were released and he was transferred to the Saddar police.

B-Division SHO Mahar Jabbar admitted that they had released the scrap dealers, however, he did not give any reason.

He claimed that police had recovered 13 stolen motorcycles from Umar and Ameer which would be handed over to their owners during a press conference.

Contrary to his claim, the B-Division police neither held any press conference nor handed over any recovered vehicle to anyone till April 20.

A senior official told Dawn that each scrap dealer paid Rs300,000 bribe. The rest of the gang members working within the limits of Chishtian Saddar police and other areas got a green signal after the gang greased the palms of the officials and also made an agreement with them through a tout to continue paying in the future too, he added.

DPO Zaffar Buzdar said the sub-inspector should have informed him about the case and he would inquire into the incident.

Published in Dawn, April 21st, 2022