Fortune smiles on police at the fall of a mask

LAST WEEK a robbery in the Margalla range left the Islamabad police worrying to no end. It was the material stolen by the robbers from a well-guarded store of a cement factory near Taxila in the Margalla range that scared the police and jolted it into action. Obviously, with terrorists attacking and blowing themselves up all around, our police could not be complacent when eight masked robbers take away 'a fair quantity of explosives and triggering material' from the magazine store of the Fecto cement factory after overpowering some 25 security guards 'in the early hours of April 13'. Initially the police believed the robbery, though alarming, was 'the first of its kind' on their turf. They only knew that some terrorist explosions during the past two years were linked to the potassium- and phosphorus-based chemicals used by the textile industry, particularly in southern Punjab. Trade in the chemicals was regulated thereafter and being strictly monitored. But a guard of the Fecto cement factory opened a window on quite a few uncomfortable possibilities by mentioning to his Islamabad police interrogators the dropping of a mask.Naturally the guard cannot be identified by name. But he identified the robber whose mask slipped while giving him a beating. He was a water tanker driver. Police traced out driver Shah Mohammad of Swat employed by a contractor to supply water to the limestone quarries of the factory. Shah had been on the job for nine months when he was fired 45 days before the robbery took place in a dispute over his salary. However, inquiries with the Swat police showed he had no criminal record. Though Shah proved a cold lead, local intelligence in Taxila suspected some robbers may be hiding in surrounding villages. But the intelligence had no inkling whom they might have sold their booty. Islamabad police think the culprits behind the April 13 haul of explosives were hiding in Taxila area and had not disposed of the booty yet. Some security guards of the Fecto cement factory have meanwhile been detained as suspects – apparently for good reason. Police found it strange that while the robbery was claimed to have taken place in the early hours of April 13, the report about it was lodged many hours later. Naeem Shafi, the deputy manager of security at the factory, told the police that eight masked men raided the magazine store, took two security guards hostage, forcing other guards to surrender. After snatching away their mobile phones, guns and Rs7,000 in cash, the raiders broke into the magazine and carried away a fair amount of explosives, hundreds of detonators and fuses and three cartons of web-cord, each bundle of length of 1,000 meters. The magazine is located in Margalla Hills, about three kilometres away from the main factory in Sangjani area. Police rushed to the scene of crime but the criminals had had enough time to disappear. Nevertheless, a search conducted with sniffer dogs led to the recovery of a carton containing detonators. Since the delay in reporting the crime aroused suspicion that some insider might be behind the robbery, a police post was set up on the premises of the factory to watch the goings on there. Investigators found that the factory had 75 security guards who worked three shifts, each manned by 25 guards. It was considered odd that the robbers overpowered them all. Senior police officers said it was equally possible that the explosives and detonating devises were stolen to feed militancy or for stone crushing businesses in the area which lack legal access to the stuff they need for blasting rock. Purchase of the explosives and detonating devises is allowed to well-established quarrying companies against special permit issued by the industries department of the district administration. Small operators should find themselves in the lurch in the circumstances. But their stone crushing businesses are running as usual, suggesting they are helped by real or stage-managed robberies.