Tag: crime

  • Gang of foreigners arrested for looting Sikh family in Lahore, reveals Lahore Police

    Gang of foreigners arrested for looting Sikh family in Lahore, reveals Lahore Police

    Update: The Organi­sed Crime Unit (OCU) of the Lahore police in a press conference revealed that a gang of robbers who reportedly looted members of a Sikh family in Gulberg a week ago are citizens of a neighbouring country. However, they did not mention the country they belong to.

    OCU SP Aftab Phularwan told Dawn on Tuesday that the police examined over 1,000 private cameras to trace the suspects who were living at a rented house in a private housing society near Raiwind and the landlord had not got his tenants (suspects) registered with the local police station.

    He said the OCU arrested the ringleader of the robbers’ gang Shahrukh, his wife Rehana Shahrukh and a cousin Irfan, who were “citizens of a neighbouring country”.

    In reply to a question whether the suspects belonged to India, he said “not at all”, adding that it would not be wise to name the country.

    SP Aftab informed the media that the alleged robbers would conduct snatching bids with Sikh yatrees and inform a hostile agency to defame Pakistan. A uniform of a government institution was also recovered from their custody.

    Mr Phularwan said that the OCU recovered from the suspects’ possession a wireless set, a 9MM pistol and the car they used in the crime against the Sikh family. Requesting anonymity another police officer told Dawn that the criminals arrested by the OCU police were Persian-speaking.

    He said the suspects travelled to Karachi and almost reached there to finally flee to their native country after their crime in Lahore attracted the attention of Pakistani authorities, but OCU police traced the suspects through their mobile phone call records and arrested them.

    Meanwhile, the Indian Sikh family met with Chief Secretary Zahid Akhtar Zaman at the Civil Secretariat and IG Police Tuesday and thanked the Punjab government for arresting the accused and recovering the loot. The Chief Secretary assured them that such an unpleasant incident would not happen in future.

    Previously, an Indian Sikh family headed by Kanwal Jeet Singh was looted by people dressed in police uniform on November 30 while they were shopping in Gulberg, Lahore. They were visiting Pakistan for the celebrations of Baba Guru Nanak Dev’s birth anniversary. The robbers took away Rs400,000 cash and jewellery belonging to the foreigners, reports Dawn.

    Caretaker Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi took notice of the incident, speeding up the investigation, claiming that the ringleader of the gang, identified as Ahmad Raza, has been arrested, while raids are being conducted for the arrest of other members of the network.

    The incident

    CCTV footage, collected by the police, showed two suspected robbers in a white car. They stopped the Sikh family on the pretext of checking their documents. One of the suspects was clad in a police uniform and the other was in plain clothes.

    They forced the Sikh pilgrims to produce their documents while sitting in their car, as per the CCTV footage. During checking, they snatched the woman’s bag that contained cash, jewellery, and other valuables.

    The family could be seen in the footage running after the suspects’ car after the incident.

    An FIR was registered as a case of fraud instead of robbery. The report further says that the robbers took with them 150,000 Indian rupees, PKR 300,000, jewellery, and valuable watches.

  • How to find a snatched mobile phone? Peshawar police knows the way

    How to find a snatched mobile phone? Peshawar police knows the way

    Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police have devised a way to curb the snatching and stealing of cell phones, a menace for most of the major cities of the country. FMC (Find my Cell), an app launched by police authorities at the Malik Saad Shaheed Police Lines Peshawar, will help trace your stolen phone.

    Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Ashfaq Anwar has said that the new app will connect registered mobile dealers to local police stations to stop the sale of snatched or stolen mobile phones.

    Registered dealers, in case of any suspicion, will get details of all the stolen and snatched phones. The dealers will be registered after verification from the concerned police stations and concerned associations.

    All the mobile dealers would be given forms of registration. These forms will hold the details of all those who are selling phones to them. “This will be uploaded to a database that will be available on the FMC,” CCPO added.

    CCPO Ashfaq Anwar said the local police were taking measures to improve law and order and stop the snatching and theft of phones and using modern technology.

  • Indian man charged in plot to kill Sikh separatist on US soil

    Indian man charged in plot to kill Sikh separatist on US soil

    Washington (AFP) – An Indian national has been charged with plotting to assassinate a Sikh separatist leader on US soil, the Justice Department said on Wednesday, alleging an Indian government official was also involved in the planning.

    The Justice Department unsealed murder-for-hire charges against Nikhil Gupta, 52, “in connection with his participation in a foiled plot to assassinate a US citizen” of Indian origin in New York City, it said in a statement.

    The man allegedly targeted in the killing “is a vocal critic of the Indian government and leads a US-based organization that advocates for the secession of Punjab,” a northern Indian state with a large population of Sikhs.

    An Indian government official, directing the plan from India, worked with Gupta and others based around the world, the US government said.

    Gupta, who lives in India, was arrested by authorities in the Czech Republic under US extradition orders.

    The news comes after the White House said last week it was treating an alleged plot to assassinate a Sikh separatist on American soil with “utmost seriousness,” and had raised the issue with the Indian government.

    The Financial Times reported that same day that US authorities had thwarted a conspiracy to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a US and Canadian citizen.

    After Wednesday’s news broke, Pannun said in a statement that “the attempt on my life on American soil is the blatant case of India’s transnational terrorism which has become a challenge to America’s sovereignty and threat to freedom of speech and democracy.”

    The Justice Department, which did not identify the target of the alleged assassination attempt on Wednesday, said that Gupta was recruited into the effort in May 2023.

    Canada and India had a major diplomatic row after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in September linked New Delhi to the killing of Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar, also a Sikh separatist, in June.

    New Delhi called the Canadian allegations “absurd.”

    But Trudeau said Wednesday that “the news coming out of the United States further underscores what we’ve been talking about from the very beginning, which is that India needs to take this seriously.”

    “The Indian government needs to work with us to ensure that we’re getting to the bottom of this,” he said.

    Pannun said that “first by assassinating Nijjar in Canada and then attempting to assassinate me on US soil, India under [Prime Minister Narendra] Modi has extended to the foreign soils its policy of violently crushing the Sikhs movement for right to self-determination.”

    The US Justice Department said that after Nijjar’s killing, Gupta told undercover US officials that there was “now no need to wait” on killing the New York City target.

    An Indian government spokesman on Wednesday said that the United States has “shared some inputs pertaining to nexus between organized criminals, gun runners, terrorists and others.”

    “We had also indicated that India takes such inputs seriously since they impinge on our national security interests,” the statement said, adding that a “high-level Enquiry Committee” was established on November 18 “to look into all the relevant aspects of the matter.”

  • Father confesses to killing son after boy refused to call him ‘papa’

    Father confesses to killing son after boy refused to call him ‘papa’

    A man from Saudabad, Karachi has been arrested for killing his eight-year-old son. The father, Amir, has confessed in front of the police that he was enraged as the boy refused to call him “papa”.

    Amaan’s body was found in Bhains Colony a few days after the father’s complaint of the boy being lost. However, the investigation revealed that the boy was tortured, killed, and dumped by his own father.

    Amaan had come to visit his biological father, as he stayed with his adoptive parents. He was adopted by Amir’s friend and had come to meet his mother, a few days before his death. Amir forced the child to call him ‘papa’, to which the child refused.

    In a fit of rage, Amir then assaulted the child, killing him.

  • Arshad Sharif’s wife registers case against Kenyan police

    Arshad Sharif’s wife registers case against Kenyan police

    Javeria Siddique, the wife of Pakistani journalist and anchor Arshad Sharif who was killed in Kenya in 2022, has filed a petition in the Nairobi High Court on Thursday against the Kenyan police officials named in her husband’s murder case.

    Arshad Sharif was killed in Kenya on October 23 last year. The Kenyan police admitted at the time that Arshad’s car came under fire due to ‘mistaken identification’.

    After arresting the policemen involved in the incident, recent media reports have told of their reinstatement.

    Javeria has approached the court in Nairobi following this news, confirming in a conversation with Independent Urdu that an application has been filed in the High Court.

    According to Javeria: “GSU (Journal Service Unit) has been made a party to the petition filed. His accomplices include five police officers who were named in the murder case.

    In addition, the Attorney General of Kenya, the Director of Public Prosecutions, the IG National Police Service, the Independent Police and the National Police Service Commission have been made parties.”

    She further stated that she is the petitioner herself and is accompanied by the Kenya Union of Journalists, Kenya Correspondence Association. Apart from this, four international organisations, ICFJ, IWMF, Media Defense and Women Journalism are also included which will provide all kinds of support.

    She said that she got the idea of filing the application in Kenya because there has been no progress in the case in Pakistan.

    “No one has been arrested or punished in Kenya. When a nuclear state will not make any effort for any of its individuals, individual efforts have to be made,” she stated.

    “Individually, I have hired a lawyer to file the application because practising law in another country is difficult”, she added.

    Javeria Siddique also said that filing the application in Kenya was difficult and that no help was granted from Arshad’s friends except from international organisations, adding that there has been no progress in the case in the Supreme Court in Pakistan for two months because “the government had no intention to do so”.

  • Women’s police station in Rawalpindi rocked with allegations of theft

    Women’s police station in Rawalpindi rocked with allegations of theft

    A female constable working at a women’s police station has reportedly accused the station house officer (SHO) of theft and blackmailing staff.

    The spokesperson for the police, on the other hand, has deemed the complaint baseless allegations to dodge accountability.

    The complaint lodged by Lady Constable Anita Naseem states that a woman named Arisha Khalid met SHO Irum Khanam to submit an application. At the time of her visit, she lost her purse.

    CCTV footage shows SHO Irum Khanam taking money from the purse and putting it away under a blue chair.

    According to the report, since SHO Irum Khanam was mindful of the camera, she pressured Anita Naseem to keep hush about the incident and threatened her. It is also, allegedly, not the first time for SHO Khanam to take money from others.

    Apart from violating departmental rules, the complainant said that she has been subjected to psychological suffering.

    An inquiry into the matter is under way with the Headquarters SP leading the investigation. The initial findings of the inquiry did not support the accusations against the SHO.

  • Landlord stabs Palestinian- American child to death, injures mother in hate crime

    Landlord stabs Palestinian- American child to death, injures mother in hate crime

    Joseph Czuba, a 71-year-old man has stabbed a six-year-old Palestinian-American boy to death while also injuring his 32-year-old mother in Plainfield, Illinois USA in what local police have confirmed is a hate crime.

    The Palestinian-American family was reportedly attacked by the man after he got influenced watching and reading about the conflict in the Middle East.

    Czuba reportedly shouted “You Muslims must die” as he entered the family’s rented home and attacked the mother. When she ran to the bathroom to call 911, Czuba stabbed six-year-old 26 times, killing him on the spot.

    President Joe Biden has released a statement, saying that he is “sickened” by the incident.

    “This horrific act of hate has no place in America, and stands against our fundamental values: freedom from fear for how we pray, what we believe, and who we are,” he said.

    “As Americans, we must come together and reject Islamophobia and all forms of bigotry and hatred.”

    Czuba has been charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, hate crimes and aggravated battery.

    Will County Sheriff’s Office said on Sunday that they received an emergency call while the woman was fighting the killer.

    She “ran into the bathroom and continued to fight off her attacker”, he explained.

    By the time the police reached the scene, the mother and the child had “multiple stab wounds to their chest, torso, and upper extremities”.

    Bothwere taken to hospital, but the boy who was reportedly stabbed 26 times couldn’t survive the attack.

    Czuba, on the other hand, sat “upright outside on the ground near the driveway of the residence.”

    “Detectives were able to determine that both victims in this brutal attack were targeted by the suspect due to them being Muslim and the ongoing Middle Eastern conflict involving Hamas and the Israelis,” the Sheriff’s office added.

    Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Chicago) identified the boy as Wadea al-Fayoume, and his mother as Hanaan Shahin.

    Wadea was born in the US, while his mother was originally from Beitunia in the West Bank and came to the country 12 years ago.

    According to CAIR-Chicago executive director Ahmed Rehab, Wadea had celebrated his birthday only a few weeks back.

  • Peshawar students protest after schoolmate shot dead by robbers

    Peshawar students protest after schoolmate shot dead by robbers

    On Thursday, students from Edward College, Peshawar, gathered to protest against the murder of their fellow student who was killed in broad daylight on Wednesday.

    The 17-year-old student, Hasan Tariq, was on his way home after school in a rickshaw when two robbers stopped him and asked for his phone. Tariq, however, resisted, so they shot him on the spot.

    Dawn reported that the incident took place in the red zone area which encapsulates the provincial assembly, Peshawar High Court, Corps Commander House, Governor’s House and other government offices.

    The students demonstrated outside Peshawar Press Club, had closed Saddar Road for the time being, while some protested outside the provincial assembly.

    The young protesters held placards, chanted slogans, and raised concerns about the increasing crime rate in Peshawar. They also condemned the police administration and called for justice for their school-mate.

    Tariq’s parents were also present at the demonstration.

    Caretaker Chief Minister Mohammad Azam Khan has taken notice of the incident.

    According to a statement, he ordered suspension of the relevant station house officer and directed the police chief to submit a report into the student’s killing.

    “Those involved in the murder will be arrested and brought to justice,” Khan stated.

    Simultaneously, the caretaker minister for information, Feroze Jamal Shah Kakakhel, visited the Manga Dargai area of Charsadda district, the native village of Hasan Tariq.

    He also visited Edwards College and met with Principal Shujaat Ali Khan and other faculty members.

  • Court summons Sara Inam’s husband

    Court summons Sara Inam’s husband

    The district and sessions court in Islamabad has summoned Shahnawaz Amir on October 12 in Sara Inam’s murder case.

    Shahnawaz Amir, the husband of the murdered Sara I am, will record his statement at the court. The orders for the same were passed by Judge Azam Khan on Tuesday after recording the statements of the investigation officer and prosecution witnesses in the murder case.

    The son of politician and analyst Ayaz Amir, Shahnawaz Amir allegedly murdered his wife by smashing her head with a dumbbell.
    His testimony will be recorded under Section 342 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), according to which the judge can question the suspect at any stage of the trial.

    “For the purpose of enabling the accused to explain any circumstances appearing in the evidence against him, the court may at any stage of any inquiry or trial without previously warning the accused, put such questions to him as the Court considers necessary, and shall, for the purpose aforesaid, question him generally on the case after the witness for the prosecution have been examined and before he is called on for his defence.”

    Investigation officer Habibur Rehman claimed that he did not fabricate any evidence nor commit any negligence.

    He said that Ayaz Amir and his wife, Samina Shah, were also mentioned as susoects in the FIR.

    According to the challan, Shahnawaz Amir told the police that the couple had a heated telephonic argument when Sara Inam did not send him money and that Amir divorced her on the call.

    When Sara Inam came to Islamabad from Abu Dhabi on September 22, she argued with him, asking him to return the money she sent him.

    He injured her after hitting her with a decoration piece after which Sara Inam “started making noise”. Amir then hit her a number of times on the head with the dumbbell.

    Habibur Rehman also said that the Police reached Farm House 46 in Chak Shahzad where the murder was committed after the registration of FIR.

    Sara Inam’s body was taken to the hospital for post-mortem and was kept in the mortuary because her parents were not in Pakistan.

    The police retrieved the blood-stained dumbbell, passports, nikahnama, and mobile phones from the room of the accused.

  • Husband kills wife for demanding divorce

    Husband kills wife for demanding divorce

    A man shot and killed his wife at his in-law’s house in Lahore after she asked for a divorce. Closed-circuit cameras recorded him opening fire and killing the woman.

    The incident took place in the area of Hanjarwal. Nasreen, who had been upset with her husband, Yusuf, and was staying at her parent’s house, had asked for a divorce a few days ago. The husband, in response, had refused.
    He then went to his in-laws house from Faisalabad, called his wife outside and then shot her dead.
    Relatives reveal that Nasreen was a mother of three children.

    Police have registered a case and started an investigation.

    SP Investigation Aqeela Naqvi says that the suspect is absconding since the incident but he will be arrested soon.