Posing as militants, three held for highway extortion

ibune News Service

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Srinagar, December 28

The J&K Police on Saturday claimed to have busted a gang whose members were masquerading as militants on the Srinagar highway and looting truckers by showing toy pistols and guns to them.

The police said three gang members were arrested, while the fourth one was still on the run.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Srinagar, Haseeb Mughal said the gang had been indulging in extortion for the last four months.

“We had been receiving complaints for the past many days about some armed men looting non-Kashmiri truckers on the Parimpora highway. After receiving the complaints, we started investigation,” Mughal said, while addressing a press conference.

During investigation, three gang members, who were stopping truckers with non-J&K registration number and involved in extortion were arrested.

He identified the three arrested gangsters as Aqib of Noorbagh, Srinagar, and his two accomplices as Rameez Dar of Palpora, Noorbagh, and Shabir Ahmed Fakhtoo of Boatmen Colony, Bemina.

The SSP said their fourth accomplice was still at large. “The gang would threaten the drivers with a fake gun and toy pistol and demand money,” he said. The police also recovered the fake weapons from the trio.