Suspect arrested in Pakistan’s major gold fraud case worth PKR 1 billion

Pakistani police have arrested a key suspect accused of defrauding jewelers of around 20 kilograms of gold worth more than 1 billion Pakistani rupees at a major jewelery market in the eastern city of Lahore, officials said on Thursday.

The suspect, identified as Sheikh Waseem, was arrested in the capital Islamabad after evading law enforcement for several weeks, according to police.

Investigators say that Waseem obtained large quantities of gold from multiple traders before fleeing from the Ichhra Latif Jewelers Market, a prominent commercial hub in Lahore, the capital of Punjab province.

Authorities said at least 10 criminal cases have been registered against the suspect at the Ichhra police station, accusing him of fraud and criminal breach of trust.

The case came to light in December last year after one of the affected jewelers, Ahmad Siddiqui, filed a complaint alleging that he had handed over gold ornaments worth more than 25 million rupees to the suspect, who failed to return them. Subsequent inquiries suggested that dozens of local shopkeepers had been similarly affected.

Police said preliminary investigations indicated that the suspect may have made off with jewelery collectively valued at over PKR 1 billion. Officers added that the arrest was carried out using modern tracking and surveillance techniques.

Further investigations are under way to determine whether more suspects were involved and to recover the allegedly stolen gold.