SAHIWAL: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Friday arrested five Multan Electric Power Company (Mepco) line superintendents allegedly involved in the illegal repair of transformers after their interim bail was cancelled by the Lahore High Court (LHC).
The FIA, on a tip-off, had conducted a raid at a private transformer repair workshop owned by Muhammad Waheed, Naveed Iqbal and their two mechanics in Gulberg Town in Sahiwal.
The Federal Investigation Agency claimed that several Multan Electric Power Company line superintendents were also involved in the illegal repairs in connivance with the workshop owners. It further claimed that copper was being extracted from the transformers at the workshop.
During the raid, an FIA team, accompanied by a Multan Electric Power Company technical team, found that the workshop owners were illegally repairing and winding dysfunctional transformers of 100, 200 and 300 KVs.
Later, a case was registered against six line superintendents.
The Federal Investigation Agency sources said that the accused had managed to obtain a pre-arrest bail, but a Faisalabad special judge had dismissed their petitions.
The accused line superintendents then approached the LHC, where their bail applications were also rejected.
Those arrested by the FIA include Muhammad Tahir, Umer Rasheed, Haji Zafar Iqbal, Hasan Rouf and Shafqat Husain. However, one accused, Mahar Khurram, could not be arrested and he was on the run, FIA said.
FIA Deputy Director Hashim Raza told Dawn that further investigations to determine the role of other Mepco officials in this racket were ongoing.
ACCIDENT: Three of a family, including a minor, were killed in a road accident when a speeding dumper truck lost control and crushed a motorcycle near Chak Ameera Ahloka in Pakpattan tehsil on Friday morning.
According to the police, Muhammad Ahmad, a resident of Minchinabad, was on his way with his wife and son to Pakpattan when the truck crushed them.
Following the incident, the driver fled the scene, while police seized the vehicle and initiated legal proceedings.
Rescue 1122 shifted the dead bodies to the Pakpattan DHQ Hospital.
Published in Dawn, October 10th, 2026
