KARACHI: Armed muggers took away around $50,000 from a man outside his home in Clifton moments after he drew cash from a private bank branch, police said on Friday.

South-SSP Syed Asad Raza said that Zulfiqar Ali, who came from the United Kingdom on Nov 18, had visited his bank — Standard Chartered Pakistan — in Clifton on Nov 21 and met an official, Zeeshan, who told him that his foreign currency account had become dormant as he had not used it since long.

He informed Mr Ali that they would complete the process to activate his account in three days and inform him. He said Zeeshan phoned him on Thursday asking him to visit the branch before 4pm. He reached the bank around 3:30pm where Mr Zeeshan gave him $49,964.46 at a cash counter.

Mr Ali stated that he asked the official to take him to a safe place so that he could count and put the money with him in a secure manner. He said he was given access to a ‘VIP room’ inside the bank where he hid the dollars in his pants.

He said he was driving home in Clifton Block 5 and when he reached and parked the car, two armed motorcyclists emerged there, held him at gunpoint and demanded the “packet containing US dollars”.

He said he was terrified as they threatened to shoot him. They snatched his cell phone, wallet that contained his ATM cards and Rs50,000 and the foreign currency and rode away.

The SSP said that police were probing the incident with all possible angles.

The Boat Basin police registered a case against unknown persons under Sections 392 (armed robbery), 397 (robbery or dacoity, with attempt to cause death or grievous hurt) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code on the complaint of victim Zulfiqar Ali.

Published in Dawn, November 26th, 2022