• Three CTD officials held for taking bribe to release man detained illegally on return from Iraq
• SSP removed, DSP and SHO of CTD police station suspended

KARACHI: A man, abducted by the Counter-Terrorism Department soon after his return from Iraq a couple of days ago, was recovered and three policemen were arrested in a Rangers raid on the premises of the CTD’s Civil Lines office, it emerged on Wednesday.

The Rangers action caused the Sindh police a major embarrassment and led to the sacking of at least three officials from their posts.

The incident took place late on Tuesday night and on Wednesday the police registered a kidnapping case on the complaint of a Rangers official, who is an uncle of victim Muhammad Aaliyan, against the three CTD men — Sub-Inspector Tanveer Tahir, Assitant Sub-Inspector Shahid Husain and Constable Umer Khan.

The complainant informed the police that on May 19 his nephew, Aaliyan, returned from Iraq and was taken away by plain-clothes men travelling in an official mobile vehicle on Sharea Faisal near Wireless Gate.

Later, he received a phone call from the cell phone of his nephew. The caller introduced himself as a CTD official and demanded Rs1.5 million for the safe release of his nephew. He was told to come with money at the Civil Lines office of the CTD.

The complainant said that he had informed senior Rangers officers about the incident and a Rangers team was constituted and sent to the CTD office. He said he reached the said office, where private person Osama took the cash on behalf of the CTD officials. Later, three policemen came outside and handed over his nephew and his luggage to him after they got cash.

Later, he, along with the Rangers team, entered the CTD premises again and upon seeing them the private person fled.

While the Rangers action led to the arrest of the three CTD officers, Sindh Inspector General of Police Ghulam Nabi Memon shied away from calling it a raid on the office of the CTD.

When asked as to whether it was a raid, the IGP said: “It was not against the CTD office but against two police officers of CTD for demanding money to release an accused.”

IGP removes SSP

However, the police chief removed CTD SSP Imran Shaukat from his post and directed him to report to the Central Police Office.

CTD DSP Sohail Akhtar Sulehri and SHO Imdad Ali Khwaja have been suspended “pending departmental proceedings into their conduct”.

Narrating his side of story, CTD DIG Asif Aijaz Shaikh told Dawn that acting on a tip-off, a CTD team detained Mohammed Aliyan on May 19 when he came out of the airport after visiting Iran and Iraq.

He was brought to the CTD police station for interrogation. “During an initial probe, he was put in the ‘grey’ list and was not declared ‘innocent’, claimed the officer.

In the meantime, certain policemen contacted his family and demanded Rs1.5m for his release. After negotiation, the CTD personnel agreed to take Rs150,000 as a bribe and released him, the DIG added.

He said that he and other officials reached the CTD office on Tuesday night as soon as they were informed about the incident. “After an inquiry, it was proved that three CTD personnel and their private informer have received the bribe for releasing the man,” he said.

Meanwhile, a Rangers spokesperson did not respond to Dawn’s request for a comment.

Published in Dawn, May 23rd, 2024