Multiple incidents of felony, involving men wearing fake police uniform, have made a mockery of the Punjab Police, but the bosses in the department are mum over the serious issue, as police uniforms are available openly right under the nose of the police at Qilla Gujar Singh.
The increasing incidents of robbery, where criminals chose the protective shield of police uniforms to execute the entire mission, but it did not seemingly disturbed the high-ups, as police uniforms are still being traded in the market and anyone can buy it at an “affordable” price of Rs 1,200.
Robbers in police uniforms again remained successful in a heist in Green Town on Tuesday. Locals claim that the robbers had entered into the bank and made hostage all the people present inside, collected cash and left the crime scene with complete confidence. In a similar bank robbery in Faisal Town, the dacoits took hardly eight minutes for an “operation”.
In another incident, three men in fake uniforms entered a house in Nawab Town on the pretext of catching robbers. They searched the house and escaped with the family’s valuables. The common factor in the robberies was the promptness of the robbers, which was not possible had they not used police uniforms.
Model Town SP Investigation Shoaib Khurram Janbaaz, while talking to Pakistan Today, said fake uniforms might be the most effective strategy used by the robbers. “The uniforms help the robbers in entering the crime scene, holding hostages and fleeing the scene in a specific time period, which make it impossible (for police) to catch,” he said.
A well-placed source in police says uniforms help the criminals in all the three main steps in a robbery. “They enter the crime scene spreading confusion, they hold security guards hostage, search the bank and escape to safety in a precise time period,” he said. “When a common man sees a policeman holding a gun, he does not notice anything unusual.”
“In the bank robbery at Faisal Town, the fake policemen had taken the real policemen as hostages only due to the fake uniforms. The policemen were unarmed and were held till they completed their task,” he said. According to the source, uniforms also facilitate in escaping from the crime scene, as other policemen cannot differentiate the real cop and the criminals.
He added that uniforms were not only being used in bank heists, as they also received reports of men wearing fake police uniforms stopping public, searching them and then asking for money. Anyone can buy the police uniform without showing his or her credentials from Qilla Gujar Singh. A police constable, while seeking anonymity, said, “There are no hurdles for anyone to buy a uniform,” adding that the traders never asked about the service cards.
“If you have money, you can get a uniform easily,” he remarked. Moreover, almost the top police officials are unable to control the trade. SSP Security Jawwad Qammar told Pakistan Today said restricting the sale of uniform was a big task. “Though, we keep on checking the vendors, but it near impossible because these uniforms can be tailored easily.”
He said apart from easy availability at almost all known markets, the uniforms could be tailored anywhere due to their simple design. However, he said police were ordered to carry their service cards all the time so that the fake policemen could be differentiated easily. DIG Operations Ghulam Mehmood Dogar and CCPO Ahmad Raza Tahir were contacted repeatedly but refrained to comment on the issue.
