LAHORE: A special police team detected a network of seven suspected criminals by carrying out geofencing of 0.7 million calls, raided three districts and arrested all of them, including ringleader of the gang.
The police acted when a senior government officer posted in Islamabad was reportedly robbed in Lahore by three of the suspects at Kareem Block in Iqbal Town area on Sept 12 during his visit to the provincial capital.
A police official claimed that the case has exposed the failure of the police’s traditional system when the findings revealed the suspects looted over 100 citizens in many cities of the province.
A majority of the crimes were committed in Lahore, while they have also been operating in Murree, Rawalpindi and Faisalabad as per the record obtained by the police team.
Police swing into action after suspects took away cell phone from senior bureaucrat some days back
Talking about the modus operandi, he said one of the suspects used to knock the door of a car and the other would collect the valuables including mobile and wallet from the dashboard.
The official said the suspects deprived Secretary Establishment Division Islamabad Nabeel Awan of his mobile phone on Sept 12 when he was going to a local market in his car.
As he reached near Kareem Block and slowed down his vehicle due to traffic congestion, one of the suspects knocked driver side door. When the government officer rolled down the window glass to inquire about the reason for knocking the door, the suspect alerted him saying the side mirror of the car had malfunctioned.
In the meanwhile, another accomplice turned up at the front-left side of the car, opened the door, picked up his mobile phone and disappeared in the crowded road.
The official said the suspect who had engaged the government officer also left the site.
As the official noticed that his mobile phone had gone missing, he realised that he had been scammed.
The official said the secretary immediately called Lahore Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Bilal Siddique Kamyana, his batch mate, and informed him about the incident.
The cell phone of a senior official [usually] carries crucial data and its theft is a cause for concern for the administration.
The CCPO assigned the task to DIG (Admin) Imran Kishwar and directed him to solve the matter, he said adding that Mr Kishwar formed a team of the three police inspectors including in-charge of the Iqbal Town police station.
The police team sought help from the Safe City Authority, carried out geofencing of 0.7 million calls besides using all other possible ways.
During the course of investigation, the police were tipped off that the suspects had left the city soon after committing the crime.
The police also sought help from the private cameras besides using human intelligence to track down the location of the suspects.
The police team evaluated the geofencing and CDR reports of a specific duration of around three years, starting from mid of 2024 to the post-crime occurrence, he said.
He added that the police experts isolated several ‘common calls’ of the suspects of the same gang they made within the geofenced areas.
The analysis also helped them trace the same places/locations of the seven suspects and the team finally reached the conclusion that they were seven members of a gang.
The official record obtained from various police stations of the city further confirmed that the suspects had committed the crimes with several other car riders by using the same modus operandi.
Police had earlier arrested only two members of the gang and got them sentenced in some petty crime cases while others successfully dodged the police for a period of two years or so. They were released after completion of sentence.
“We have arrested four of them during raids carried out in Pakpattan, two from Hafizabad district and another key suspect from Lahore,” the official said.All the suspects have been handed over to the investigation police for further interrogation, the official said.
Published in Dawn, September 23rd, 2026
