ISLAMABAD: Four officials of the capital police were on Thursday evening arrested on the charge of patronising two groups of extortionists in the fruit and vegetable market of Islamabad.

However, three employees of the Capital Development Authority (CDA), who were also accused of being hands in glove with the extortionists, are yet to be rounded up.

The arrested policemen have been detained at the Sabzi Mandi police station and will be produced before a court for obtaining their remand on Friday.

It may be noted that on Tuesday night, the police conducted an operation against the two groups – one local and the other Afghan – and took into custody their 15 members, including five Afghans. However, except seven, including two Afghan nationals, the other detained people were later released.

During the interrogation, it was revealed that the two groups had been taking extortion from the traders of the fruit and vegetable market in connivance with some officials of the police and the CDA for over 12 years. The arrested men also disclosed the identification of their accomplices in the police and the civic agency.

The accused alleged that they had been carrying out the illegal practice with the help of ASIs Mohammad Ishaq, Mohammad Azam, Mohammad Syed Akhter, Sarfaraz Khan, head constable Agha Shah and constable Aurangzeb. Three officials of the CDA anti-encouragement wing, including Saghir and Abdul Ghafoor, also patronised the groups.

The accused said they had been getting extortion from the traders on the pretext of providing them ‘protection’ from criminals and allow them to do business in and around the market.

They took Rs100 from each stallholder and Rs50 from each cart vendor twice a day - in the morning and evening.

Besides, mini-trucks, trucks and trawlers coming to the market were charged Rs100, Rs200 and Rs300. The extortionists collected hundreds of thousands of rupees a day.

The members of the groups also said they used to occupy state land and provide it to those who wanted to set up stalls.

The Afghan nationals told the police that Amanullah was operating their gang along with his brothers and 15 other countrymen. Similarly, the accused affiliated with the local group told the police that they were patronised by traders Safdar Sidiq, Tariq Sidiq and Amjad Sidiq.

The local group had over 20 members who also snatched money at gunpoint from those who refused to pay the extortion.

Though the police got the details of the black sheep in their ranks and the CDA, they were reluctant to arrest them till Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan intervened and issued directions for their arrest.

A police officer said four policemen were arrested while the remaining along with the CDA officials were still at large.

On Thursday, the seven members of the local and Afghan gangs were produced in the court of a magistrate for obtaining their physical remand. However, the magistrate seemed not satisfied with the charges under which the police had booked the accused.

The police had registered the cases against the accused under different sections of the PPC (Pakistan penal Code) dealing with extortion.

The magistrate, however, directed the police to also add section 7 of the anti-terrorism act to the case and produce the accused before the anti-terrorism court. But when the police took the accused to the ATC, the judge had left the court.

Later, the arrested men were brought back to the court of the magistrate to get their transit remand but in the meantime his court was also closed.

As a result, the accused were shifted back to the Sabzi Mandi police station and will be produced in the ATC on Friday.

It may be noted that the menace of extortion in the city remained unnoticed till over a dozen vendors of the vegetable market approached the police and got a case registered against the local group on July 9.