Retired army personnel have started a private intelligence business in Sindh, using sniffing dogs, purchased or hired from Pakistan Army, a Pakistan Today investigation revealed on Friday.
The private agency is providing services for search of stolen valuables and detection of explosive materials using army’s sniffing dogs and charging people exorbitant rates for their services.
Per reports, some retired army men based in Karachi, Hyderabad, Thatta, Sajawal and Hub, Balochistan, have launched the Army Dog Centre (ADC), a private security company, which provides services of search operations following huge thefts of money to locate thieves, killers and terrorists.
If the dogs fail to locate the culprits, then the complainants have to pay rent for the dog team and the fee for trained army intelligence personnel. However, if the team locates the culprits successfully, the complainant pays money which is more in value than the stolen goods. ADC has its headquarters in Hyderabad Cantonment and has offices in Malir Cantonment, Karachi Saddar, Thatta and Sajawal.
Brig (r) Akbar Khan is managing director (MD) of ADC while Major (r) Irfan Khan Niazi is supervisor of the private security company.
Emergency numbers of ADC are attended by Sub (r) Imtiaz who said the company provided services of all kinds of intelligence operations ranging from search of stolen or snatched goods to detection of explosive devices.
Imtiaz said the company had purchased sniffing dogs which were trained by the Pakistan Army and were sold to the company. “At present we have dogs to search stolen valuables and if anyone wants to avail our services for detection of explosive materials, the company has hired special sniffing dogs from Pakistan Army on rent of Rs 100,000. If the dogs do not recover any explosive material from the site, then the complainant only has to pay the fee for the team of dogs,” he added.
However, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Spokesman Major Waheed strongly denied that Pakistan Army had sold or provided trained dogs to any private intelligence company.
“Pakistan Army is not involved in this business,” the ISPR spokesman said, adding that whoever was running this business privately was committing an illegal activity and Pakistan Army had no links with such kinds of businesses. “Although, Pakistan Army provides its sniffing dogs to paramilitary forces or local police if they require their services, it does not provide such dogs to any company in the country for running a private business,” he added.