Multan police detained four individuals, among them two who were attired in SSG commandos’ uniforms of the Pakistan Army, while they were transporting 140kg of charas in an apparent ‘official vehicle’ of the agency along the motorway.
At the Shershah Interchange, law enforcement officers halted the ‘army van,’ where the suspects initially identified themselves as serving army officials.
A video clip of the incident circulated widely on social media, capturing the suspects expressing displeasure as their arrest was being documented by the police. In the clip, Multan Police officials were seen inspecting packs of drugs allegedly being smuggled from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to Multan through the motorway in what appeared to be an army’s official vehicle used by the suspects at the time of arrest.
Initially, the suspects identified themselves as Zahid Khan from SSG, and the others as Khalid Khan, Abdul Aziz, and Faisal Khan. While two of them were dressed in army attire, the rest were in civilian clothing.
However, subsequent investigations revealed that they had impersonated army officers to evade detection by law enforcement agencies.
Multan Regional Police Officer (RPO) Sohail Chaudhry informed Dawn that the police intercepted the ‘army vehicle’ based on a tip-off. Upon inspection, police discovered 140kg of charas concealed within the van and questioned the suspects. The Intelligence Bureau (IB) also provided assistance to the police during the operation.
Chaudhry mentioned that the suspects claimed to be SSG officials, but further scrutiny revealed that they had repainted a private van to resemble an army vehicle. Moreover, their army uniforms turned out to be counterfeit. Upon learning of the situation, Chaudhry promptly contacted the army. After conducting their own investigation, the army confirmed the suspects were imposters and returned them to the police for legal action.
Following clearance from the army, Multan Police arrested all the suspects and registered a case against them.
