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| India-Pakistan |
| Taliban bank robberies total $18m in Karachi since 2009 |
| 2012-05-24 |
| In a desperate bid to generate funds for terrorism, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) outlaws have robbed Karachi banks of US $18m (Rs. 1.6 billion) since 2009, police told Central Asia Online May 21. Were these non-Islamic banks, that charged interest? That would justify the robberies... “Several activists of TTP ... have confessed confessed, or 'confessed'? to police that they have committed bank robberies to provide money to the organisation,” said Khurram Bari, superintendent of the Karachi Police’s Special Interrogation Unit (SIU), which interrogates suspects linked to terrorism or terror-financing cases. Police accuse militants of involvement in at least 28 robberies since 2009, including 18 of the 39 bank heists in 2010-2011. In 2011, Taliban militants robbed Karachi banks of about Rs. 500m (US $5.5m), according to a Karachi police internal report. That total included Karachi’s biggest bank robbery of the year, a heist of more than Rs. 90m (US $990,000) from a Muslim Commercial Bank (MCB) branch, police said. Pro-Taliban elements have infiltrated private security agencies meant to protect the banks, according to police. Police have struck back, arresting 42 TTP activists in 2010 and 2011 in connection with various robberies, Bari said. In those two years, the police recovered Rs. 110m (US $1.2m) and various weapons from the suspects, who face trial in different Karachi courts, he said. Recovered something like 20% of the loot (presumably in addition to the amounts set aside for the hands of various police and government officials) - not to bad a solution rate; I wonder if 'confessions' helped. |
| Posted by:Glenmore |
| #1 Robbin banks for Allan. Very pious. |
| Posted by: Eohippus Elmuling8724 2012-05-24 10:34 |