PESHAWAR: Police arrested four staffers of the provincial excise department for refusing to verify their identity.

Police said that they received information on Sunday about the presence of some people in civvies and uniforms on Northern Bypass in the limits of Chamkani police station.

They said that a threat alert was already issued that militants, wearing police uniform, could attack the law enforcers. They added that as soon as Chamkani police received information about the group’s presence, a team rushed to the spot.

“As soon as the group saw the police party, the private men escaped while four persons in police uniforms were asked to verify themselves,” Syed Naveed Rauf Shah, an official at Chamkani police station, told Dawn.

He said that the four persons in uniform stated that they were from excise department but refused to cooperate and produce their identity cards upon which police shifted them to the police station. He said that their seniors were asked to visit the police station and verify if those arrested persons were the staffers of the department.

Mr Shah stated that the excise department officials later confirmed the arrested persons’ identify who were deployed at Northern Bypass as routine.

A statement later issued by police said that a written request was submitted to SP Zafar Ahmed Khan and an inquiry was ordered into the matter.

Excise department’s public relation officer Mujahid Mohmand refused to share any official version with this scribe by stating that all the staffers of the provincial information department were on strike.

Published in Dawn, May 8th, 2023