LAHORE: Police claimed on Wednesday to have arrested seven out of a 13-member gang allegedly involved in kidnapping of two patwaris for ransom and recovered Rs8.8 million from their possession.

Addressing a press conference at Qila Gujjar Singh, SSP (investigation) Mubashir Maiken said police busted a 13-member gang involved in kidnap for ransom cases.

He said police received a complaint from patwari Irfan that he was kidnapped and later released after paying ransom. The suspects also kidnapped another patwari Khalid Husain and got millions of rupees to release him.

He said investigation showed that the gang comprising an Intelligence Bureau (IB) inspector, two retired patwaris and as many Mughalpura constables were involved in kidnapping people for ransom. The gang was led by Sarfraz Khan and Muhammad Qasim.

Suspects include a sleuth, two constables

The SSP said the suspects had connections with the revenue department officials and they had prepared a list of people to kidnap them.

He said they allegedly kidnapped the patwaris and detained them at their hideout by impersonating intelligence agencies personnel. Mr Maiken said police recovered Rs8.8 million from their possession and were conducting raids to arrest the six others.

He said the suspects would tell the patwaris that they were government officials and were investigating corruption cases against them (patwaris). As a result, the [kidnapped] patwaris were reluctant to reveal the details of their kidnap.

He praised the police team including Civil Division SP Hasnain Haider and Mughalpura DSP Usman Haider for taking measures to arrest the suspects.

Published in Dawn, June 22nd, 2017