Islamabad police on Friday took possession of two luxury vehicles allegedly belonging to the Qatari royal family from outside a warehouse. “The cars were found in mysterious circumstances within the limits of the Bani Gala police station,” a police official told.
The police claim that Irfan Siddiqui, the warehouse manager, confirmed that the cars belong to the Qatari royal family.
Earlier this week, at least 21 non custom paid luxury vehicles – all belonging to the Qatari royal family – were recovered from the parking lot of a dairy farm in Rawat owned by Saifur Rehman, a former chairman of the now defunct Ehtesaab Bureau, reported on Tuesday.
The 21 vehicles were part of a batch of 50 cars imported by Qatari royals three years ago for hunting purposes. The remaining vehicles are suspected to be in the use of prominent personalities, customs sources told.
The import duty applicable on all 50 cars had been waived for a period of three months by the PML-N government via a statutory regulatory order. However, the duty was never paid and the cars never returned to Qatar, a Customs Department source told a private TV Channel.
The Qatar Embassy in Islamabad had confirmed the ownership of the cars found at the dairy farm.
According to the source, the Customs Department suspects that some of the vehicles belonging to the Qatari royal family had been in the use of the Sharif family.
At least one of the cars was recovered from Maryam Nawaz’s son, Junaid Safdar, the source said.
The driver of the vehicle, who was arrested when the car was seized, had provided the tip-off about the location of the other vehicles which were discovered at the dairy farm.
Published in Daily Times, September 29th 2018.