City Hatyan Bala police in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) have arrested three members of a gang of looters from Chakothi along the Line of Control (LoC), reported 24NewsHD TV channel on Wednesday. 

According to reports, Amir s/o Shehzad had lodged a complaint with the police that a man telephoned him and introduced himself as Colonel Zahir. “Later, that man blackmailed me and extorted Rs25,000 from me,” he said. 

Acting on Amir’s complaint, Manzar Hussain Chughtai, the SHO, traced the mobile location of the gang leader to Chakothi area of the AJK following which he, leading a police party, raided a hotel in the area, and arrested Abdul Hameed Qureshi s/o Abdul Majeed Qureshi, who would pose himself as a colonel in Pakistan Army, Muhsin Khan Abbasi and Maria Shafiq, who would loot people by introducing herself as a lady doctor to them. 

The SHO registered the case against them under sections 419, 420 and 170 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), and launched an investigation. 

Startling revelations are expected to be made in the investigation.    

SHO Chughtai has said that several people have approached different police stations in the area and its vicinity with complaints against the gang. 

“The gang also had a woman in it who would pose herself to be a lady doctor to loot the people, who could not be intimidated through the fake Pak Army colonel. The gang had robbed scores of gullible people of their valuables not only in several parts of the AJK but also in Pakistan. Dozens of mobile phone SIMS, ATM cards and cellphones, which were not registered in their names, have been recovered from them,” he explained.  

Locals have praised the police for busting the gang.

Reporter Mubarak Hussain Awan