KARACHI: Armed robbers took away over Rs59 million from a builder in the Bahadurabad area late on Tuesday night, police said on Wednesday.

They said that four robbers were involved in the incident that took place near Naheed Superstore at around 11pm when builder Raheel Ghaffar was heading home in Phase IV, Defence Housing Authority, from his office.

The victim told the police that he had placed four cartons having total cash of Rs59,400,000 in the boot of his car and left for home from his office in Trade Centre, Bahadurabad, along with his driver. When they reached near Caramel Bakery, two suspects travelling in a car intercepted his vehicle and in the meantime, two other robbers on a motorcycle also pulled up there.

He said that two of them approached him and his driver, held them at gunpoint and asked them to step out of the vehicle. They snatched the vehicle and his cell phone and sped away. Later, they abandoned the vehicle and phone at some distance and took away the money.

Police suspect ‘inside job’ behind looting of four cash-filled cartons kept in car boot

Mr Ghaffar said that the robbers appeared to be in their 30s.

East-SSP Zubair Nazeer Shaikh told Dawn that the police were working on ‘technical grounds’ and expressed the hope that the case would be ‘solved’ soon.

A case was registered at the Bahadurabad police station under Sections 397 (robbery or dacoity, with attempt to cause death or grievous hurt) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

Bahadurabad SHO Qurban Ali Buledi told Dawn that the builder had informed investigators that the amount he was carrying came from people who booked apartments in his project.

When the investigators asked him as to why he was carrying such a huge amount without any proper security, the builder told them that it was his ‘routine’.

The area SHO suspected that it might be an inside job. He said someone had tipped the robbers about the builder and that he stored cash in the four cartons and kept them in the trunk.

He said that the investigators were trying to obtain CCTV footage and were also carrying out geo-fencing to find out the robbers.

Published in Dawn, March 2nd, 2023