LAHORE: Four policemen allegedly looted a citizen and deprived him of Rs100,000 along with threats to implicating him in a drug case.

The victim, Suleman Nasir, was stopped at a police picket established for the public security.

He was coming from a bus stand on a ride he had booked to reach his residence near Jublee Town.

The reports suggested that police constables including Murtaza, Sajjad, Ghulam Subhani and Irfan questioned the citizen at the picket using the traditional tactics.

During the search of his luggage at the picket, they found Pan Parag (Pan Masala) in a part of his bag.

The policemen declared the Pan Parag a kind of drug and threatened to implicate him in a case under section 9 (c ) of Control of Narcotics Substance Act 1997 saying he would have to face imprisonment for life.

The reports suggested that on finding the citizen panicked the policemen demanded Rs1.5 million, saying it would allow him to celebrate Eid with his family instead of ending up in jail.

At this Suleman agreed to pay them a bribe. The policemen took him to a nearby bank where they forced him to withdraw an amount of Rs100,000 through ATM and disappeared with the looted money. He later brought the matter to the notice of the police high-ups who ordered an inquiry into the incident.

As the allegations proved true, the Chuhng police lodged a case on the complaint of Suleman and nominated all the four policemen.

Published in Dawn, June 10th, 2025