Islamabad, Pakistan – The Pakistani city of Dera Ismail Khan witnessed a series of security developments on Friday night and Saturday morning, beginning with a violent terrorist attack and culminating in the seizure of a massive shipment of money that was being smuggled out of the country. Security authorities reported that their forces successfully repelled an armed attack targeting the Daraban police station. Subsequently, an intelligence operation thwarted an attempt to smuggle billions of Iranian currency.
The night of the bullets in “Daraban”
Late Friday night, militants belonging to what the state calls the “Kharijite sedition” (the banned Pakistani Taliban – TTP) launched a treacherous attack on the Daraban police station. The attackers used rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) and heavy machine guns in an attempt to storm the station. The RPGs caused parts of the perimeter wall to collapse. The force of the explosions also caused significant damage to several shops and nearby buildings.
Despite the element of surprise and the ferocity of the bombardment, the police forces stationed at the center put up a valiant resistance. These forces engaged in fierce clashes with the attackers that lasted for several hours. The strong response from the armed security personnel forced the attackers to retreat and flee towards the rugged mountainous terrain. No police officers were killed. Later, special forces launched a large-scale search operation to track down the perpetrators.
Blow to smuggling networks: Billions in “secret caches”
The following morning (Saturday), the city police, led by Mohammed Numan, achieved a significant security breakthrough in the suburban district. During a thorough vehicle inspection, a vehicle arriving from a border area, carrying two individuals from Shaman and Quetta, was flagged as suspicious.
A professional search uncovered hidden compartments within the vehicle’s chassis containing a massive amount of counterfeit Iranian currency, estimated at over 4.49 billion rupees. The suspects, Aminullah and Naqibullah, were detained, and their mobile phones were confiscated. The entire case file was then transferred to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to determine whether the funds were linked to the financing of armed groups or organized crime networks. These developments underscore the high level of preparedness of Pakistani security agencies in confronting the dual threat of both on-the-ground terrorism and transnational economic crime.
