RAWALPINDI- The police have apparently failed in nabbing the gang of swindlers that has become active in federal capital and been targeting foreigners and sometimes locals, while impersonating officials of law enforcement agencies, reliable sources disclosed to The Nation on Saturday.
They said that the gang had looted cash and valuables from two foreigners within the limits of Kohsar police station in the first and second week of January but so far police could not trace them.
Interestingly, police either did not file cases against the gang despite complaints of victims or inserted irrelevant sections in the First Information Reports (FIR), apparently to show low street crime ratio and to avoid wrath of their high-ups.
The gang members have terrified not only foreigners but also the local residents, who appealed Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and Inspector General of Police Islamabad Tariq Masood Yasin to order police to arrest the gang, the sources added.
According to the sources, two robbers pretending to be cops snatched cash, credit cards and other valuables from a high-up of Italian embassy in Islamabad on Marvi Road on January 5 when he was going for a dinner in a nearby market.
Instead of registration of an FIR against the two robbers, the officials of Kohsar police station had only chalked out a report of occurrence of the incident on the complaint of the victim, Gaim Marco Agostini, who is a co-director at Pakistan-Italian Debt Swap Agreement at Embassy of Italy in Islamabad, they said.
They said the Italian national appeared before Kohsar police on January 6, 2017 and lodged a written complaint stating that he left his private guest house located in Sector F-7/4 at 7pm on January 5 for dinner in a nearby restaurant. On Marvi Road, two men in a car intercepted him near street number 52, he added.
The Italian embassy officer told police that the man sitting on the passenger seat introduced himself as a policeman while showing his official card and asked him to show his identity for security reasons.
The complainant added that as he pulled out his wallet to prove his identity, the policeman suddenly grabbed his wallet containing 340 Euros, two credit cards, an Italian SIM and other documents, after which the two men sped away towards the market.
Gaim requested the police to register a case against the robbers, sources said.
However, police just mentioned the occurrence of the incident of looting an embassy officer in the daily crime register (report number 19) and started an investigation with no arrest or recovery so far.
In the second incident, a gang targeted a Chinese national Bruee-Yang-Feng, who is employed in a mobile company at Saudi Pak Tower. He was travelling on Marvi Road in his vehicle along with his driver on January 11 when a gang of four men intercepted his vehicle. Impersonating intelligence agency officials, they asked the Chinese national to show his passport, sources said. They took Rs29,000 from Bruee’s wallet and ran away.
Kohsar police registered a case under sections 420/170/171 of Pakistan Penal Code against the robbers on the complaint of the Chinese national but could not arrest the fleeing gang members, sources said.
Sources said that the same gang members had snatched Rs9,65,000 in cash from a Dubai-returned Pakistani Inayyat Khan a month ago in Blue Area while impersonating intelligence agency officials. Unfortunately, police have failed in tracing the gang members, sources said.
Kohsar Station House Officer Iftikhar Chatta, when contacted, said no Italian national was looted by robbers in the limits of the police station rather a Chinese national was robbed of Rs29,000 by a gang of four members.
He said a case was registered on the complaint of the Chinese national and an investigation was underway. He said patrolling had been increased to avoid occurrence of such incidents and extra check points had also been placed. The gang members would soon be arrested, the SHO said.