GUJRAT: Businessmen affiliated with the pottery sector in the city have claimed that an organised gang of iron suppliers from Gujranwala have deprived them of iron worth around Rs15 million and hid the goods, whereas they claim the police have been pressuring them to settle the matter with the accused.

The affected businessmen complained that despite submitting three separate applications against the gang as well as recovering trucks of the stolen goods, police had so far lodged only one case, that too under theft charges.

They claimed that instead of lodging cases on their applications, police were pressuring them to settle the matter with the suspects.

Affected businessmen Qamar Basheer and Mehr Asif told Dawn that they and two other people had purchased iron rods for the construction of their factories located in and around the small industrial estate area in April the last from Shafqat Shahzad and Ali Hamza from Gujranwala. However, they claimed that on May 1 when the trucks arrived, Qamar Basheer got suspicious and examined one of the trucks and found at least six tonnes of crushed stone in a secret compartment of the truck.

Mr Basheer alleged that at least 24 tonnes of iron were missing in the four trucks that arrived.

The traders claimed that they took the matter to the police and they detained the drivers and other suspects along with their four trucks and a car.

They claimed that the city’s Lorry Adda Police station only lodged a single case against the six nominated suspects on the complaint of Mehr Asif for stealing iron worth Rs3.6 million from the factory compound.

However, the affected businessmen said that it was not a case of theft but of fraud and breach of trust and claimed that the police were reluctant to register cases under the relevant sections.

They urged the Punjab and Gujrat Police high-ups to take notice of the matter and provide justice to them through an independent investigation.

Published in Dawn, May 11th, 2026