Bentley stolen from London recovered from military house in Pakistan
A Bentley Mulsanne reported stolen in London has been found in Pakistan during a customs raid on a house reserved for military officials.
Foreign sleuths tracked down the luxury car’s location to a Defence Housing Authority (DHA) residence in Karachi and informed Pakistani customs, it emerged on Saturday.
Customs officials recovered the Bentley – worth an estimated 6.8 million baht or US$185,500 – and arrested two suspects, Jameel Shafi and Naveed Bilawani, at the address. Also detained were an alleged facilitator at the Sindh Excise and Taxation Department and other suspects.
The raid came after Pakistan’s intelligence agency received information from an unnamed foreign counterpart that a Bentley had been stolen from London and was likely parked at a house (15-B, South, 10th Street) in DHA, Karachi.
Customs officials carried out surveillance before launching the raid. Officials asked the Bentley’s “owner”, Jameel Shafi, to produce documents for the vehicle. Instead, he told them it had been sold to him by Naveed Bilwani, who had agreed to take care of the documentation.
According to the police report, Bilwani then showed up at the scene and was asked to produce his ownership documents for the Bentley but was unable to do so
Bilwani then informed customs officials that he had only helped broker the deal between Shafi and a third party named Naveed Yamin, who had received payment for the car from Bilwani.
After a check showed the Bentley had been illegally registered with the excise and taxation department, both suspects were detained.
The customs department has also charged Yamin and an unnamed excise official.
Dawn
Asia News Network
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