LAHORE: The Model Town police Organized Crime Unit (OCU) busted a network of female thieves, operating under the guise of house helps, and arrested four women, who allegedly looted many families in Lahore, Multan, and Kasur.
An official, explaining the modus operandi of these women, said they would get hired as domestic workers and on finding an opportunity spike the food of their employer families with some tranquilising substance before looting their cash and other valuables.
In some cases, he said, the members of the victim families had to be hospitalised in serious condition due to toxic impact of the tranquilisers.
The OCU police recovered from the suspects Rs6 million cash and other valuables, including gold ornaments, mobile phones etc, all worth over Rs9m.
It is said to be the biggest recovery the CIA police Lahore have ever made from the “house helps” during the last few years.
The official says that Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Bilal Siddiqu Kamayan referred the case to OCU DIG Imran Kishwar, after taking notice of a surge in such crimes. Mr Kishwar assigned the task of nabbing the gang to OCU Model Town, which formed a team, giving it a specific deadline for the purpose.
The OCU team used human intelligence and other resources to gather information about the gang to track its members operating in Multan, Kasur and Lahore. The team conducted raids in these cities and arrested four key members of the gang.
The official says the police also recovered jewellery, expensive watches, perfumes and foreign currency from the gang members, including Sana, Anam, Shehnaz and Sheeba.
He says one of the suspects, Sana, had a criminal record in different police stations of Lahore.
The CCPO appreciated the efforts of OCU DSP Faisal Sharif and his team, awarding team commendation certificates and cash prizes.
He said that by carelessly employing house helps, people put at risk their property and their lives. He urged people to get their domestic workers registered with the respective police stations, using the online tenant registration applications to avoid thefts.
The CCPO also urged employers to get character verification of their domestic workers from police to avoid the risk of being looted by such criminals.
Published in Dawn, January 28th, 2025