RAWALPINDI: The Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) and police, in a joint operation, tracked down a gang of extortionists and arrested three of its members.

The alleged extortionists were involved in three incidents of extortion two of which were reported to Murree police by an official of revenue department (Patwari) in 2013 while another was reported to Sihala police by another businessman in 2014.

In July 2013, explosive material weighing 300gms was placed along the compound wall of Raja Hanif Abbasi`s house. Raja Hanif Abbasi is associated with the revenue department and is also the father-in-law of Sadagat Abbasi who had contested May 11 elections on PTI ticket from Murree.

Raja Hanif Abbasi had been receiving threats from suspected TTP militants who were demanding Rs100 million.

According to the police, the gang was also involved in hurling crackers at the house of a businessman in July 2013. He had been receiving extortion threats for the last two months (May 2013).

In May, Raja Hanif received a letter along with a Universal Serial Bus (USB) from an unidentified person.

Raja Hanif, the father-inlaw of Sadagat Abbasi who contested May 11 elections on PTI ticket from Murree, in his complaint with the police, said that he received the letter and the USB at his office.

A senior police official said since the accused were not charged with sectarian terrorism, they were handed over to the local police for further investigation.

`Though the arrested individuals had been using explosives to terrorise their victims, their motive had only been to extort money, he said, adding that during interrogation the suspects revealed that they had started swindling people but after losing a large amount of money, they started extorting money by using explosives which they bought from an individual in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.