KARACHI(National Times)- Additional Inspector General (AIG) Azad Khan shared details on Friday of the probe into alleged drug queenpin Anmol alias Pinky, saying investigators had come across information suggesting the involvement of foreigners in running the drug network.
Anmol was arrested earlier this week from her apartment in Karachi in a joint raid conducted by police and a civilian intelligence agency in connection with two cases pertaining to the possession of narcotics and an unlicenced weapon.
On Wednesday, a Karachi court granted police a three-day physical remand of her.
The Karachi AIG on Friday shared details at a press conference of the investigation into Anmol thus far, saying the case could turn out to be transnational as investigators had come across information about the involvement of foreigners in drug networks allegedly run by the suspect.
“We have come across information that some foreigners from African countries are involved in this network who are in Lahore. They may be six to eight in number.
“Similarly, around 20 Lahore-based women are also involved in this network,” he said.
“We have come to know that the main shipment [of drugs] used to come from there. They used to make their products there,” he said, adding that the products were then sent to Karachi.
He added that Anmol used to employ riders, nine of whom had been identified. “Eight of them are from Punjab and used to come here, carry out their work and leave. Only one of the nine riders was from Karachi,” he said.
“When her riders began getting caught, she changed her modus operandi. Instead of sending her own riders, she started using local riders through various services,” he added.
The AIG said Sindh authorities were in touch with the Punjab police and the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF), the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), and the National Cybercrime Investigation Agency (NCIA), he added. Moreover, “we are also contacting the Financial Monitoring Unit”.
The senior police official elaborated that 20 cases against Anmol had surfaced in Sindh, of which 17 were old cases and 3 were registered recently. “One of those cases is registered with the ANF.”
Moreover, three cases against her were registered in Lahore, he said, adding that further details regarding the status of those cases had been sought.
The AIG said Anmol had been shown as arrested in nine cases, and acquitted in six of the earlier cases registered against her. “She has been declared a proclaimed offender in three cases and an absconder in an ANF case,” he added.
Separately, nine cases registered previously were linked to her network, he said, adding that “her riders are nominated in those cases, but her name was not mentioned in the cases when they were registered”.
AIG Khan further said Anmol had been involved in drug peddling since 2014, but she began selling drugs in Karachi in 2018. “She used to do it online and when she came on [the authorities’] radar here, she moved to Lahore,” he added.
The official said a forensic analysis of Anmol’s phone had been conducted and that they had found 869 contacts. “We are trying to determine the location of those contacts. We have received the location of 639 contacts, of which only 132 are in Karachi,” he further stated.
He said this showed that Anmol’s network was not limited to Karachi and its “tentacles are spread beyond” this city.
The AIG said around 300 of Anmol’s contacts identified by investigators had been “fully involved in this drug-related” activity.
The AIG said around 300 of Anmol’s contacts had been identified by investigators as being fully involved in drug-related activity. He added that the next task was to categorise those contacts as “victims”, who had been addicted to drugs; “accused”, who sold drugs; and “harbourers”, who had facilitated the network through their influence, adding that whoever they may be — including police personnel — would be taken into custody.
Sharing details of financial transactions related to Anmol traced so far, the AIG said a 500-page statement of a year-and-a-half-old account had been obtained. According to it, transactions worth more than Rs30 million had been recorded in that account, he added.
“The biggest transaction has been made by an account under the name of an individual named Anna from Lahore — the amount is around nine million or more,” he said.
The official further told reporters that a raid at Anmol’s “old residence was conducted at night, from where cocaine was recovered. We have registered a separate case regarding that”.
He further said that four names had been forwarded to the relevant authorities to be placed on the Exit Control List (ECL) in connection with the case.
When asked whether any parliamentarian or their spouses were among the individuals whose names had been forwarded to be added to the ECL, the AIG said: “That is not the case. These are people who are involved in this [matter].”
During the briefing, he also said that Anmol had been nominated in a murder case as well. “Her contact was found with a drug addict who has died. We treat it as a murder,” he detailed.
He also mentioned that the Sindh inspector general of police had constituted a ’“larger team” for investigating the matter. “I am heading that team, which also comprises Deputy Inspector General (Crime) Amir Farooqi, the DIG (special branch) and DIG of the Counter-Terrorism Department,” he said.
“We want a broad-based investigation into this at a senior level,” he said.
The official also denied reports that Anmol was arrested in Lahore. “She was arrested here. Processes involving intelligence are complex, people are lured in — I will not go into details, but police and intelligence agencies have put in hard work for the arrest,” he explained.
He also said that he had spoken to the Punjab IG and that Sindh and Punjab police would continue to share information regarding the case. “We have already formed a team and they, too, will probably constitute a team,” he added.
