Police in capital steal diamonds, wine from N. Korean envoy’s residence

Interior minister takes notice; matter already taken up with MoFA

Police officials, drug peddlers involved in breaking into diplomat’s house, stealing valuables

ISLAMABAD: In a shocking revelation, some rogue elements in the federal capital police have been found involved in a daylight robbery at the residence of a senior North Korean diplomat.

As per reports, the cops took away valuables worth millions of rupees, including gold, diamond ornaments and 440 cartridges of high-quality imported liquor.

The matter has been taken up by the local police, as well as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as the incident is a blatant violation of diplomatic norms and the Geneva Convention.

When contacted, Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal said he would take up the matter the very next day, saying “those found involved in the matter would be taken to task.”

Exclusive documents available with Pakistan Today and subsequent investigations have revealed that, in an illegal raid on Oct 2, officials of P.S. Shalimar went beyond their limits and stole 450 cartons of legally imported liquor, 3,000 US dollars, laptop, gold and diamond ornaments, etc. from the residence of North Korean embassy’s First Secretary Hyon Ki Yong.

However, ASI Malik Asif—the accused who has been found involved in the robbery in a CCTV footage—claims that high ranking police officers were involved in this business with notorious liquor smugglers Malik Brothers, and he is being made a scapegoat.

After the raid, the police officials allegedly registered a fake case, stating they have successfully recovered 240 bottles of imported wine during a snap checking at F-11/1 from a car (CG-428) driven by Muhammad Bashir

It is vital to note that Malik Brothers are running an illegal business of liquor and drugs smuggling in the federal capital since decades. “They have very strong roots in the police, interior ministry, ICT administration, judiciary, politics, as well as the journalist community, since they provide them free liquor whenever they want. Therefore, it is next to impossible to act against them,” said a police officer while requesting anonymity.

He said that there are a number of weak cases registered against them in various police stations.

“This is a police tactic to pressurise Malik Brothers by registering cases against them time and again just to ensure their monthlies on time, as well as to raise their rates,” he maintained.

The robbery came to the fore when Hyon Ki Yong returned from Beijing, China, the very next day of the robbery and found the locks of the house broken up. Subsequently, the diplomat approached Kohsar police station and filed a complaint about the whole episode.

“On October 3, I came back and was shocked to see that my house was missing some important things like diamonds, gold, officially imported wine, whiskey, laptop, computer, dollars, and much more. After that, I saw CCTV footage and was again surprised [to see] that some people in police uniform had raided my house no. 9A, street 42, F-7/1 on October 2 at 12:00 and stolen the said items,” Hyon Ki Young wrote in the complaint.

The police officials of Kohsar brought this matter to the knowledge of SSP Operations Sajid Kayani and IGP Khalid Khan Khattak. Afterwards, the top police officers ordered an inquiry.

It was revealed in the inquiry ASI Malik Asif of Shalimar police station, along with Head Constable Lal Shehbaz and Constable Tariq, had illegally raided the aforementioned house without any approval from the competent higher authorities on October 2 and stole 201 cases and three bottles of wine, 60 cases of beer, 100 cases of black whiskey, 10 royal boxes, 9 cases tequila, one TV and DVR, one computer, one laptop, two diamonds, and three thousand US dollars.

Afterwards, the Kohsar police station registered a case against the servant of the embassy official under section 381 of Pakistan Penal Code.

When contacted, the investigation officer ASI Ishtiaq Hussain said, on the directions of SSP Operations, the names of all three abovementioned police officials had been added in the already registered FIR of the incident.

SHO Kohsar Asjad Mehmood, while talking to Pakistan Today, said that the top police officials have suspended all the aforesaid police officials, and raids have been conducted to nab them; so far, nothing has been achieved in this regard.

“Today, we have recovered 731 bottles of stolen imported legal liquor from the secret flat of Malik Sagar [liquor vendor and a man of notorious Malik Brothers], and ASI Malik Asif at F-11/1 near the main road and police picket,” he said.

Additional reporting by Farid Sabri