When we raided the agricultural mafia

It is 2001. One day I was sitting in the police station looking at the usual mail and the text of a letter made me cringe.

The patriotic citizen who wrote the letter identified a mafia that was active in the Shaikh Fazil area of ​​the same model police station.

This mafia was manufacturing a large number of fake branded fertilizers, seeds and agro-medicines in a secret location in Sheikh Fazil and distributing them in the market under fake names, while the agriculture department staff and the local police turned a blind eye to the business. were done

This was the time when the Punjab government had ordered two police stations in each tehsil to be model police stations and to appoint inspectors specially recruited by the Punjab Public Service Commission as SHOs in these police stations.

Thus we were also appointed SHO of a model police station in Borewala. With the establishment of model police stations, where the confidence of the people in the police started to be restored, the expectations of the people had also increased a lot.

Our endeavor was to maintain as much contact as possible with the local people to improve efficiency by enabling effective crime prevention through ‘community policing’.

We encouraged people as much as possible to keep an eye on the illegal activities taking place in their locality and being a civilized citizen to report these illegal activities to the police immediately so that action can be taken against these elements. Timely action can be taken.

In view of the lack of trust between the police and the public, we have even asked people not to reveal their names, of course, but to provide us with information related to crimes and criminal elements.

As a result, a series of letters started from the people of the area. In the beginning, Muharr Sahib would open the letters and put them in my ‘post pad’ but soon I forbade him to open the letters for fear of ‘information leakage’. So now I used to open the letters myself and keep them in a separate file in my desk drawer which contained some important information.

Opening a similar letter, I found out about the mafia I mentioned at the beginning.

Local shopkeepers who sell seeds, fertilizers and agro-medicines of many agricultural crops, just for the sake of greed, become the tools of this mafia and supply the simple farmers with the most sub-standard, poor quality and have the most harmful effects on the crops. were selling medicines while a few black sheep within the Agriculture Department are backing them.

As a result, fertilizers and agricultural drugs used to protect crops from diseases and increase agricultural production were causing harm instead of benefit.

Farmers were being cheated with both hands through these fake fertilizers and fake agro-medicines. On the one hand, the agricultural production was decreasing and on the other hand, the fertility of the arable land was also adversely affected.

Being the son of a cultivator myself, the presence of such a group within my police station was a source of great embarrassment to me, as I strongly believed that such a heinous act was committed by the local staff of the Agriculture Department and concerned officials. It cannot function in such an active manner without the connivance of the police station.

So I decided to take action against this mafia and identify them as criminals.

I had appointed informers who were informing me about the situation morning and evening.

According to the initial reports, the head of the group manufacturing fake agricultural drugs and fertilizers was a person named Amjad Jat who was quite influential locally and politically, that is, in simple words, his reach was very high. According to my experience, if you lay hands on such a person, if you lay your hand on it, then it will result, otherwise it will come out as clean as a fish.

Now my top priority was to trace the secret place in Sheikh Fazil, where these fake fertilizers and agro-medicines were being manufactured so that I can arrest the accused with solid proof and evidence.

My informants were also collecting information from agricultural drug dealers and passing it on to me.

Eventually two of my informants were able to track down the secret place where large quantities of fake fertilizers and agricultural drugs were being manufactured.

The fake fertilizer and medicine manufacturing plant was set up in a large premises at Mauza 409 EB Sheikh Fazil where the manufactured fake goods were sent to Borewala, Chichawatni, Sahiwal and other areas early in the morning by tractor-trolleys.

After knowing the location, the delay was unwarranted, so I informed the District Police Officer Dr. Jameel Ahmad about the entire situation and sought his permission to raid this fake fertilizer factory.

He graciously not only granted me permission but also assigned a vehicle of elite police force with me as an additional force for Red.

We decided to raid this secret place after Fajr prayer in the early morning after Ghoro Khoudh.

For this raid, I had selected two of my gunmen and two trusted constables because if any information was leaked, the entire effort would be wasted and I had informed the DPO about this. . Maybe that’s why they had assigned an elite force vehicle with me so that there would be no problem in the action against this mafia.

Before the raid, I had done a complete recce of the place and in the light of the information received, I had prepared a rough map and a strategic plan for the raid. According to the plan, we surrounded the place at six in the morning and raided it just when the accused were loading the fake fertilizer on the trolleys.

We had already disarmed and taken into custody the two gunmen employed by the accused who were outside the premises, and their guns were also in our possession.

During a search of the entire premises, hundreds of sacks of ready-made fake fertilizers were recovered, along with a large number of empty bottles of agro-medicines with names similar to those of well-known bonds, and packing materials from a room adjacent to the premises. was We had detained four or five persons engaged in the delivery of fake fertilizers and medicines, but the arrest of the main accused, Chaudhry Amjad Jat, has not been possible yet.

We took the recovered fake goods and the detained accused to the police station by official vehicle and informed the DPO about the recovery along with all the details.

Congratulating Red on his success, the DPO said that he would come to Model police station two hours later and address the press conference and expose the black deeds of this mafia in front of the media.

After consulting DSP Legal, DPO contacted the District Agriculture Officer and informed him about the case and the details of hundreds of sacks of fake fertilizer recovered from the spot and advised him to pursue the case as a plaintiff. .

The District Agriculture Officer immediately deputed a Borewala tehsil level officer to follow up the case. Accordingly, under the relevant provisions, a case was registered against five persons, including the leader of this group, Chaudhry Amjad Jat.

At exactly 10 o’clock, the DPO held a press conference at the Model Police Station and informed the media about the black exploits of the fake agricultural drug and fertilizer manufacturing group active in the area for the past several months.

The media representatives were also shown the recovered fertilizer sacks and fake stickers of various well-known brands to fully expose the black deeds of this mafia.

DPO Dr. Jameel congratulated the reading party and announced certificates and cash prizes for them.

The leader of the group, Chaudhry Amjad Jat, who was on pre-arrest bail by the court, in view of the strong evidence in the case and the request of the police, canceled the anticipatory bail and arrested him from the court room. was taken

Special teams have been formed in connection with this case so that, according to the investigation of the accused, the fake goods can be recovered from wherever they have been sold.

The investigation of this case continued for several months and fake agricultural drugs and fertilizers were continuously recovered.

While the arrest of the gang was well received by the locals, the dealers selling the fake gang’s goods inside the market immediately removed the stock of fake drugs and fertilizers from their shops, fearing possible arrests. Made it disappear.

People often take out processions against the police, but this was the first time when the people of the area took out a procession appreciating the performance of the police and raised slogans in their favor.