SWABI: A team of excise and taxation department from Islamabad conducted a raid on the residence of former provincial minister Shahram Khan Tarakai on Thursday night and recovered two “illegal” luxury vehicles, the department’s local officials and police said on Friday.

Excise officials told Dawn that they assisted the team from Islamabad during the raid.

Earlier, a similar raid was conducted on the residence of Asad Qaiser, former speaker of National Assembly, and three “illegal” vehicles were recovered from there.

The excise officials said the nature of the vehicles recovered from the residence of Shahram Khan was not immediately known. “The vehicles were recovered during a surprise raid,” one of the officials said on condition of anonymity.

He said the two luxury vehicles bore number plates of Islamabad (AWW-41) and Punjab (LE-2971).

The local police officials, when contacted, said the team from Islamabad only sought the help of police constables, including policewomen, during the raid.

An official of excise department, Mardan circle, said they assisted the raiding team from the federal capital during the raid on Mr Shahram’s residence.

Meanwhile, Ramzan Chaudhry, a spokesperson of Tarakai family, said the two vehicles, which were taken away during the raid, were registered: one in the name of Wilayat Khan Tarakai, Shahram’s uncle, and the other in the name of Murtaza Khan Tarakai, Wilayat’s son. “Both vehicles were registered and there was no question of their being illegal,” he said.

Reacting to the raid, Mr Shahram tweeted: “My house in Swabi has been raided once again. The whole house was searched without any search warrant.”

He further said: “Two vehicles that were legally registered have been taken away. A new but wrong tradition is being established in (Khyber) Pakhtunkhwa, in which no consideration is being given to the sanctity of chadar and chaar deewari (veil and four walls of house).”

Published in Dawn, June 17th, 2023