A gang of technologically advanced robbers looted gold and cash worth over Rs15 million from a house in Defence Housing Authority (DHA) Lahore after they successfully jammed Bluetooth and wireless signals for cell phones, GPS and Wi-Fi by using special blocking devices.

The gang of five escaped via the motorway and then took an exit from a Faisalabad interchange while special teams were waiting to catch them at the exit points in Islamabad and Sargodha.

The police from various cities of Punjab, however, failed to trace and arrest the criminals despite multiple efforts.

The incident

Reports suggest that five masked men brought a special device to disrupt the operations of all mobile phone services in the vicinity of around 100 meters, which left the family without any option of contacting the police or any other for help.

The house is located in DHA Phase 4, and it is owned by a retired Superintendent of Police (SP), Rana Azeem, who rented it out to a tenet family of Mubashar Ahmed.

Ahmed told the police that five armed men with masks on their faces forcefully entered his residence on Tuesday midnight.

The dacoits held the family hostage in a room and collected 35 tola gold, including bangles and locket sets worth over Rs 8.75 million, 12 branded watches valued over Rs 1.3 million, a cash of Rs3.5 million, along with other valuables. In total, they took away Rs15.5 million worth of valuables.

Three of them were carrying rifles, and two others were with pistols.

Ahmed claimed that one of the robbers seemed to be between 65-70 years and one 50 years of age.

The initial investigation revealed that this was the fourth house robbery by the same gang during 20 days in Defence Block A and Block C.

They used a Honda Civic car in all the instances with fake registration number plates.

After robbing the house on Tuesday, however, the robbers fled via motorway.

Statement of the police

Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Imran Kishwar of Organised Crime Unit (OCU) Lahore stated that the robbers had reached near Sherakot by the time the family alerted them, after which an encounter took place with the SHO concerned and his team, but the “robbers opened fire, hit the police barriers and managed to reach the motorway.”

The police had installed pickets at the exit points of Islamabad, Sargodha and some other districts, but the tech-savvy robbers took a surprise exit from Faisalabad and disappeared.

“We are on a hot pursuit of the hardened criminals and will round them up soon,” DIG Kishwar asserted.

However, the DIG stated that the Punjab police had contacted the Dera Ismail Khan police as reports suggested that the suspects might go underground there.