RAWALPINDI: The capital territory police have launched a hunt for a man in police uniform who released a semi-machinegun (SMG) and a jacket from the equipment room of the Security Division and disappeared about two weeks ago.

Ali Sher, assistant sub-inspector and in-charge of the police store room, lodged a complaint with the Secretariat police against the suspect. He stated that when personnel of the Special Protection Unit (SPU) were being deployed on the route duty for the visiting England cricket team on October 19, a man in the uniform of the ICT police came to him while weapons and other equipment were being distributed among the police officials.

He said the man in police uniform had a name plate, belt number and also gave him his mobile phone number before getting the SMG and a reflector jacket from the store, claiming that he was on the route duty.

The complainant said the man had gotten the weapons for ulterior motives after cheating him. The ASI said legal action should be taken against the suspect to recover the SMG and jacket.

Capital police trying to check whether gun used by a lone man in looting cash vans a few days ago was one issued to the suspect

It may be noted that four bank robberies were committed in the federal capital territory on Tuesday in which a large sum of money was looted by a lone gunman, killing a citizen and injuring six security guards of banks.

In the first incident, a lone gunman raided an Allied Bank branch in G-14, injuring security guard Fazal Hassan and taking away Rs1,863,580.

Mir Haider, a civilian, was gunned down and five other persons, including three security guards of the NBP, were injured in an armed attack on a cash van in G-9/4.

Similarly, Rafiq Khan, a security guard of HBL I-9/3 branch, was shot and injured by a gunman during another attempted robbery while four persons were shot and injured in a robbery attempt at the Allied Bank branch in G-15 Markaz.

In all the four incidents, a lone man carrying a heavy gun, suspected to be an SMG, was involved. The police have been trying to check whether the gun used by the lone man was the one issued to the fake policeman. 

Published in Dawn, November 1st, 2024