Pakistan Rangers, which has assumed the responsibility to maintain law and order in the city, has been accused of theft of recovered material seized in search operations, Pakistan today has learnt reliably.
Rangers claimed that police stole things like weapons caring case, bullets and magazines while the latter rejected the allegation leveled by the former and said they had received a list of weapons along with recovered quantity of bullets and magazines.
In a pre-dawn search operation in Bhittai Colony, Korangi Crossing, Rangers conducted raid and seized licensed arms and bullets from the residents and later handed them over to Korangi Industrial Area (KIA) police. Rangers directed owners of the arms to approach the police station to get their weapons back after verification by the district coordination officer.
However, the arms-holders claimed they went to KIA police station for receiving their weapons but many things were missing. Some of them said that bullets and weapons caring cases were missing while others claimed their magazines were not mentioned in the list which was provided by Rangers to the police.
“On early February 14, Rangers conducted a raid in Bhittai Colony and seized my 9 mm pistol, weapon caring case and 42 bullets,” said Rizwan Hafeez, resident of house no B-33, Bhittai Colony, Korangi Crossing.
“They also seized my license and directed me to visit Rangers Jamia Millia station to get my weapon back. The next day, I went to Rangers Jamia Millia station but officials asked me to visit KIA police station to collect my arm. When I went to KIA police station, the police officials said they only received the weapon and the license. When I asked about 42 bullets and weapon caring case, they said they had not received any bullet and caring case,” he claimed.
When approached, Rangers spokesman said Rangers handed over all the recovered material to the police. “It is habit of police officials to steal recovered material during raids. Rangers handed over all the things along with list to police for verification and if anything is missing it is not their fault.”
KIA Police Station House Officer (SHO) Inspector Naeem Khan rejected the claims of Rangers and said he had instructed his officer to carry all the recovered material along with its list to Rangers Jamia Millia Station carefully.
“When Rangers seize weapons, they send arms with accessories to the concerned police station for verification. They also sent us a list of recovered arms with accessories and their licenses for verification but weapon-holders claimed that many things were missing. I showed them the list of recovered material of Rangers that they recovered during raid at Bhittai Colony two days ago but his weapon caring case and 42 bullets were not mentioned at all in the list,” the SHO said.
