SAMAHNI (Kashmir English): A notorious tractor thief escaped from Samahni police custody between Sunday and Monday, leading to public outrage and the arrest of three negligent officers.
A notorious tractor thief who was wanted in multiple tractor thefts managed to escape from the custody of the police in Samahni. This event has led to understandable outrage in public. The culprit was identified as Shafiq alias Sheka, who was a mastermind behind a series of tractor thefts across Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Punjab.
Shafiq is said to be a resident of Faisalabad and had been arrested after two months of continuous efforts by law enforcement agencies. He had been accused of stealing two tractors from Samnahi, one from Mirpur and multiple from Punjab. However, in the early hours between Sunday and Monday, he managed to break out of the holding cell at the local police post and fled, leaving the authorities in a rather embarrassed state questioning their credibility.
Following his escape the victims and other citizens targets of his theft spree criticized the police for their incompetence, negligence and insufficiency. Many blamed the authorities for failing to secure such a notorious thief even though he was being held at the police station, questioning the measures taken.
The escape incident prompted Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Bhimber, Chaudhry Muhammad Ameen, to direct the immediate arrest of three police staff who were working at that time. The police department arrested three officers for negligence including Head Constable Muhammad Rauf with two constables and Inspector Mehtab Aslam took the position of investigation officer to investigate the incident.
The investigatory report reveals that an inmate succeeded in breaking open his celllock and left it undetected by other sleeping detainees in adjacent cells. The escape incident prompted District Council Member Chaudhry Asghar Niharvi together with Public Action Committee Core Member Raja Abid Aslam and local representatives to assemble at the police station for demanding disciplinary measures against the incompetent police staff.
Authorities promise ongoing actions to recapture the runaway fugitive and block future occurrences of this type. The authorities continued investigations to understand how the escape occurred while also probing whether police staff furnished any help to the inmate.
