RAHIM YAR KHAN: A Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) team has reportedly arrested a member of an international swindlers’ gang from Khanpur city on Saturday night.

According to local and police sources, a raiding team comprising FIA Inspector Sarim Ali and Lady Inspector Saeeda Khan conducted a raid on a premises in the New Grain Market at Khanpur on a tip-off and arrested a suspect, Abdul Sattar Odh, a resident of Chak 134/1-L village located deep in the desert area of Cholistan.

The sources says Odh is an important member of an organised gang of swindlers active in Pakistan as well as in some Gulf states, including Qatar, where the suspect allegedly committed a financial fraud of millions of rupees.

The sources say the raiding FIA team has shifted the suspect to Islamabad and more raids are being conducted for the arrest of two other members of this ring.

As per sources, around a month back, an FIA team headed by Assistant Director Umar Kalim had also arrested two members of this gang during a raid on Chak 134/1-L and shifted them to Islamabad.

The sources say the arrested suspects are allegedly also involved in swindling some former parliamentarians and other important personalities.

According to some residents of Khanpur, Chak 134/1-L was considered as headquarters of this gang, while its other members also belong to Karachi, Faisalabad, Toba Tek Singh and Burewala.

About the gang’s modus operandi, the sources say that its members would use social media to entice people inside the country and abroad by offering them to secure huge loans for them from banks and leasing companies through fake documents.

No FIA official was available for confirmation of the arrest, however, Khanpur city police sources confirmed the arrival of the FIA team in the area.

Published in Dawn, October 2nd, 2023