LAHORE: The police have reportedly failed to achieve any breakthrough in the biggest-ever fraud case in which gold worth Rs1 billion was taken by a jeweller of the Ichhra jewellery market a few weeks ago.
According to reports, applications of nearly 40 more jewellers were under process for registration of cases against the suspect, Waseem Akhtar, who was also a jeweller in the same market for the last 30 years or so. As many as six new FIRs were registered when the police held inquiries in the presence of Ichhra jewellers association representatives to verify their respective claims.
A police official said that the suspect had remained an active member of the local association representing hundreds of the jewellers of the market. He said that the traders had blind faith in him and deposited their jewellery to the lockers in his shop. He said that suspect Waseem allegedly deceived the jewellers some weeks back, collected all the gold ornaments and disappeared under mysterious circumstances.
The police official added that the first case was registered against him when, two weeks back, a victim went to the suspect’s shop and found it locked and then went to his residence. There, the official, said he was told by the neighbours that Waseem had sold his house and vehicles and left the area. Later, CCTV footage showed the suspect taking gold ornaments with him in many shopping bags.
40 more jewellers file similar complaints against the suspect
Lahore SSP (Investigation) Mohammad Naveed told Dawn that the suspect was still at large and police were trying to trace his whereabouts. He said the police checked the travel history of the prime suspect and the airport authorities confirmed that he had not left the country.
According to the initial investigations, he said, the suspect had planned the crime so cleverly that the jewellers of the market and his relatives remained absolutely in the dark.
“He first sold his own shop in the Ichhra market and then took one on rent to run his business,” the SSP said, adding that he later sold out his house, cars and other property.
To a question, he said that the prime suspect’s brother had also gone underground along with his family. The children of Waseem Akhtar were studying in Malaysia, he said, adding that the police were trying to get more details about him to find any clues.
He had taken 20kg of gold from dozens of local jewellers, the SSP said, adding that the Lahore police chief and DIG investigation were personally supervising the investigations of the cases registered against the accused.
About the new cases, he said that the FIR was registered on the complaint of a jeweller named Gulaiz, who had alleged that the suspect had defrauded him of gold jewellery worth over Rs70.4 million. Similarly, another jeweller Mian Sohail lodged an FIR for depriving him of his gold ornaments worth over Rs10.6 million, while the police also registered an FIR against the suspect for taking the jewellery of one Waqas worth over Rs6.5 million.
In another trader’s FIR, he claimed that Waseem deprived him of gold over Rs90 million in value and in an FIR registered on the complaint of another jeweller Ahmad Siddique alleged that the suspect made off with his gold ornaments of over Rs10.2 million.
The police official said that the complaints of 40 more victim jewellers had been received and they were being processed for registration of FIRs against the suspect.
To a question, he said that the police were not sure about his whereabouts and were trying to ascertain whether he had left the country or was hiding somewhere in the country.
Published in Dawn, December 25th, 2025
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