Karachi man steals 3kg gold after losing IPL bets

The Karachi police have arrested a man along with his friend for stealing 3 kilograms of gold from his brother's jewellery shop, officials said Thursday.

The police registered an FIR of the theft on a complaint filed by Mohammed Asif Bandani. He said that unidentified burglars took away 12kg gold from his shop in Gulf Shopping Mall Monday night.

Asif said he closed the shop Monday evening and found the jewellery boxes missing when he reopened it the next morning.

The police started investigating the matter and recovered the looted gold in a raid at a trade centre on II Chundrigar Road late Wednesday.

The investigators learnt that Asif with his accomplice, Waseem, had planned and executed the theft.

Investigating officer Arshad Janjua said the inspection of the crime scene suggested that an insider could be involved. The jewellery shop is surrounded by other shops and it has only one entry/exit point, he said.

"All four locks of the shop were cut in a way that suggested that the people behind the robbery were not trained," Janjua added.

The police retrieved call record data of the complainant and narrowed down their investigation to one number that belonged to Waseem. They raided Waseem’s office on II Chundrigar Road and found the gold and the cutter used in the theft.

Asif has confessed to the crime. He told the investigators that he had to pay Rs8 million for the bets he lost on the Indian Premier League.

“Asif worked at the gold shop owned by his brother Muhammad Hanif Bandani,” South Investigation SSP Imran Mirza told SAMAA Digital. “He used to place bets on Indian Premier League matches and staked Rs4 million rupees in one such bet."

After losing the bet, the suspect had to pay Rs8 million and he decided to rob his brother's shop for this, according to SSP Mirza. Asif sought help from Waseem and promised to give him 10% of the looted gold. 

“On the day of robbery, he gave leave to all workers and closed the shop but returned after an hour,” SSP Mirza said. “Asif took away 3kg gold and the shop's locks.”

He placed the broken locks around the shop the next day he came to open it, the officer said.