PESHAWAR: The Hayatabad police have arrested their four personnel for allegedly kidnapping a trader, detaining him for several hours and trying to extort Rs5 million from him.

According to the police, the incident took place on Nov 5 and the first information report about it was registered on Wednesday after investigation.

The police said thatthe accused, including Shiraz, Fawad, Imran and Mujahid Shah, were part of the Ababeel Squad, a unit of the city police, and were taken into custody after identification by complainant Shahidullah, a flour dealer in Jamrud Bazaar of Khyber tribal district.

The Ababeel Squad was set up in 2021 to check street crimes.

SSP says after registration of FIR, departmental action also launched against accused

The complainant told police that he was held by the four Ababeel Squad personnel near the Malik Taj Market as he was travelling from Jamrud to the Karkhano Market in a taxi.

He said that the accused took mobile phones from him and the taxi driver and shifted them to a private place near the main Peshawar Development Authority building.

The complainant said thatthe police personnel kept them in illegal detention for several hours, threatening them with ‘dire consequences’ and demanded the payment of Rs5 million as extortion.

He also said thatthe accused snatched Rs110,040 currency notes and mobiles phones from him and the driver.

The trader said that the four police personnel had detained them at around 4pm and kept them in their illegal custody until 8:30pm before allowing to go away.

On the other hand, the city police said in a statement that they had registered an FIR against the cops for kidnapping the trader and tried to extort them.

According to them, the FIR was registered under Section 365-A of the Pakistan Penal Code, which deals with kidnapping or abduction for extorting property or money.

It said the accused were arrested after their identification by the complainant.

The statement quoted Peshawar SSP (operations) Kashif Aftab Abbasi as saying that the police strictly followed the principle of self-accountability and won’t make any compromise on it and the rule of law.

The SSP said that besides registering the FIR and arresting the four personnel from Peshawar on the charges of kidnapping and illegally detaining the trader of Khyber district, the police had also launched a departmental action against the accused.

He said that the police would ensure the protection of public life and property.

The SSP said that the police had introduced a mechanism to monitor the black sheep in the department and that around 100 personnel had been dismissed from service in the current year for misusing their powers.

Published in Dawn, November 12th, 2022