Arrested bookies admit having strong links with international bookies

SAMBRIAL: The arrested eight accused bookies have admitted to have strong links with the international bookies and they still claimed that the entire Pakistani cricket team was dancing to their tunes.

The interrogating police officials told that the police was still making sudden raids at various places in different cities of Punjab for arresting their more companions in the lights of their statements recoded by the police. Police have also got the record of all the calls made by the bookies. The said accused bookies were on three-day physical remand given by a local court. Police will reproduce the accused before the court of local civil judge in Sambrial on April 30, 2011 for further proceedings. Meanwhile, the intelligence agencies including Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), Intelligence Bureau (IB) and Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) have also started interrogation from the said accused bookies, saying that they (agencies) were keeping all the options open in this regard.

The officials added that these accused bookies were involved in making threatening call to Pakistani wicketkeeper Zulqarnain Haider. However, the journalists were not allowed to see the bookies, which were under the Sambrial police custody, amid tight security. The officials added that they (intelligence agencies) had also contacted with the wicketkeeper Zulqarnain Haider and even his family for getting more information regarding this whole nasty episode, in this regard. They also vowed to get help of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) in this regard, if needed. The accused Sikandar Hayyat, Sarfraz Sheikh, Shahid Waheed , Muhammad Rizwan Gujjar, Ghulam Fareed Mayo, Aamir Ali Malik (Sambrial) and Sagheer Ahmed Bhatti (resident of Chak No. 62 Bahawalpur) were stated to be very influential. On Wednesday (April 27, 2011), the Sambrial police had registered a case (No. 341/2011) under sections 13/20/65, 5/6/78, 216 and 489-B PPC! against these accused.

Sialkot police had arrested these accused from a house in Sambrial city during the mid-night operation on April 27, 2011 (very early in Wednesday morning) from some under ground and secret rooms of the house located at Alleywali locality of Sambrial city. Police also recovered as many as 250 telephone set, several satellite phone sets, a big quantity of illicit weapons and a big quantity of fake currency notes (in national and foreign currencies) as well. On the other hand, the grieved families of Sambrial based arrested accused bookies Sikandar Hayyat, Sarfraz Sheikh, Shahid Waheed, Muhammad Rizwan Gujjar, Ghulam Fareed Mayo and Aamir Ali Malik have strongly criticized the police. Talking to the newsmen at Sambrial, they termed their boys as innocent, saying that they were not the bookies and having no links with the international bookies. They urged the government to provide them justice, in this regard.