SIU officials booked for kidnapping call centre owner for ransom

The involvement of personnel of the Karachi police, whether they belong to the district police or specialised police cells, in criminal activities has become a routine occurrence.

After every few weeks, it emerges that some officials posted of the Karachi police, especially those working in specialised police cells like the Counter-Terrorism Department or Criminal Investigation Agency, are involved in some criminal activity.

A recent case has emerged in which a sub-inspector posted at the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) and his entire team comprising around 10 officials have been found involved in a kidnapping for ransom.

A case of kidnapping for ransom has been registered against them at the Sacchal police station and efforts to trace the cops have been initiated. Additionally, the SIU DSP has been suspended due to negligence.

The fugitive cops are accused of conducting a raid at around 6am on July 9 in Scheme 33 within the jurisdiction of the Sacchal police station. They allegedly took a man, Ali, and his associate Azfar who ran a call centre into custody.

The detained men were then taken first to the SIU and later to a farmhouse, where $90,500 was transferred to a foreign account by Ali. Afterwards, the two men were released while the police personnel involved received the money through hawala in Pakistan.

Interestingly, the SIU officers/personnel involved in blackmailing the call centre owner into transferring dollars to foreign accounts knew that an internal inquiry was under way against them. This awareness led them to exploit the situation and flee, raising the question that when senior officials were aware of criminal activities of those cops, why they were not detained, warned or included in the investigation to prevent their escape.

In response to this question, SIU Chief SSP Adeel Chandio told The News that the incident occurred on July 9 during a period when there were several engagements, such as security for Muharram and Bohra community activities. Taking advantage of the situation, the suspect SIU officers conducted the operation in the early morning.

They did not make any official entry of the incident, which is why it did not come to notice in a timely manner. In response to another question, SSP Chandio explained that the case came to their knowledge on Monday when a complaint was filed by the complainant at the CPO. Following this, they initiated an inquiry into the case.

SSP Chandio said that as the complainant, Ali, had been in contact with him, and his visits to the SIU were noted, the police officials involved in the kidnapping went into hiding. SSP Chandio further stated that SI Akhtar was already on an eight-day leave at the time, while DSP Shabbir Awan was suspended due to negligence. The entire police party led by SI Akhtar is under suspicion.

So far, three officers/personnel, including SI Akhtar, ASI Shahbaz, and Farooq, have been identified as suspects, and investigations are under way to identify the remaining suspects. Generally, when suspects flee, police detain someone from their families to put pressure on the fugitives to surrender. It seems that this practice applies only to ordinary citizens and it does not apply to police officers.

When SSP Chandio was asked to comment on this, he explained that it was not the case, and the police did not differentiate between criminals belonging to police force and other criminals. “There will be no leniency just because they are police officers," he remarked.

"I personally urged the complainant to file a case so that we can take the strictest possible action against the involved police officers. That's why I also contacted the District East police and got the FIR registered for kidnapping for ransom."

Interestingly, these SIU cops have been found involved in a kidnapping for ransom case when the inspector general of police has assigned the SIU additional responsibilities regarding street crime.

When asked why the SIU did not take any proactive action against black sheep in its ranks as this was not the first time SIU cops had been found involved in criminal activities, SSP Chandio responded that when he took charge of the SIU, he initiated a thorough scrutiny within his cell and transferred all criminal elements posted in SIU.

“The increase in such incidents is partly because criminal-minded police officers are not deterred by fear, as they often find ways to settle matters with complainants later on,” he explained. “As I mentioned earlier, the timing was such that we could not detect it in time. We are working to set an example with this case so that no police officer will have the courage to get involved in criminal activities in the future.”

The SSP mentioned that since physical cash was not involved, they were currently verifying the complainant's claims. He added that action had begun against the policemen involved in the incident and after their arrests, the investigators would verify the complainant's claims.