Trader seeks Sindh IG's help against CTD SSP for 'illegal' detention

• Trader alleges CTD vans, without number plates, arrested him.
• He says SSP Fida Hussain took him in custody for personal interest. 
• SSP says Abbassullah arrested over suspicion of terror financing. 

KARACHI: A Karachi-based trader, Chaudhary Abbasullah, has sought police protection in a written complaint to Sindh Inspector General of Police (IGP) Riffat Mukhtar, alleging that Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Fida Hussain took him into custody illegally for personal interests.

The matter came to the fore on Tuesday with the CCTV footage of Abbas’s “arrest” that took place outside his residence in Gulshan-e-Maymar.

In his complaint to Sindh police chief, the trader stated that he was taken into custody on March 6 when 8-10 persons riding in two CTD mobile vans “without number plates” seized him and transferred him to Garden Police Station, where he was locked in a private cell.

He stated that they covered his head and face and tied him “with chains like a terrorist”.

Stating the alleged reason for the illegal custody, Abbas said that SSP Hussain had contacted him in January seeking his help to get a bank account to transfer some money which he couldn’t transfer to his own as he was a “public servant”.

“He stated that he has sold a piece of land to another person and needed my help in getting him a bank account of another person to deposit the sale proceeds of the land as he could not deposit the same in his personal accounts as he is a public servant and is going to receive such a huge amount, being the sale proceed of land,” the letter stated.

Abbas said that SSP Hussain pressurised and threatened him as he refused to provide the SSP his own bank account number for the amount to be transferred and cashed out later.

He said that while he was in custody, the men who had arrested him also pressurised him on giving the account number and lied to his brother about his presence at the police station, who had come to inquire about him

Abbas said that he was released the same night around 3:30am after his brother reached out to the Sindh IG. He, however, expressed concerns about his and his family’s safety, and sought an inquiry against SSP Hussain and his accomplices

“Following this incident I am very distressed and frightened therefore, I am requesting for your help to protect my safety and safety of everyone around me including my family members,” he stated in the letter.

Abbas also provided the details of the land sold by SSP Hussain and requested the recovery of his National Identity Card (NIC), which was still in the police party’s possession.

Reacting to the matter, SSP Hussain said that the trader was arrested after due legal procedure on the basis of reports of his alleged links with banned outfits and involvement in terror financing available to CTD.

He said that Abbas is levelling allegations against CTD to avoid investigations against him. The SSP said that Abbas’s activities are “extremely suspicious”.

“Abbasullah had also raided the factory of another trader Iftikhar last month,” he said, adding that a case of taking control of the factory was registered against Abbasullah.

He added that Abbasullah has been spotted with unidentified men as well.