Naseerabad police has registered a case against a former contractor of the Islamabad International Airport’s cafeteria for vandalizing the venue and holding two staffers hostage.
The intrusion occurred a few days ago and the police have initiated investigations in the matter.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) Senior Assistant Director, Malik Imran Akhtar, informed about the case’s details to the police. According to him, the contract for building the canteen was awarded to the Al-Hamd Catering Service on December 16, 2016.
The contract was given on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis. Moreover, the owner of the service, Mukhtar Ahmed, constructed the canteen’s infrastructure in line with the requirements maintained in the contract.
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After the structure’s construction, Ahmed’s partner, Kamal Abbasi, ran the canteen. When the contract expired, the authority awarded the contract of running the canteen to another service, Rehman Enterprises on December 24, 2018.
The CAA official told that the contract was awarded through a tendering system.
According to what Duty Terminal Manager, Saqib Kiyani, informed the police, Abbasi barged into the canteen with 12 armed individuals accompanying him. They broke the window panes to enter the cafeteria on March 9.
They damaged property and CCTV cameras installed in the cafeteria. The suspects also kicked out those sitting in the cafeteria and held Canteen Manager Nasir Durrani and Security Guard Nawaz as hostage.
A CAA vigilance team came to the spot after hearing about the incident. Negotiations started and the armed men freed the hostages by 9 pm and left.
The police have booked the suspects and begun a probe.
