Highway police are resorting to banditry in the western zone. Killid has evidence to prove charges against 40 policemen for taking bribes from drivers and extorting money from travellers. An investigation.
The busy Herat-Farah highway, which stretches south to Kandahar, is a lifeline for the country’s west. But it is also a dangerous road to travel with robberies, bombings and kidnappings being reported nearly everyday.
The troublemakers are often police in uniform who fear no authority because they are well protected by senior members of their tribe, says a former chief of a highway battalion Haji Mustafa who resigned recently.
Bismillah, a former commander of a highway detachment told Killid renegade police have “close relations with the Taleban”. “I am from Farah and I know these people well,” he said. “They were first pro-peace, then they joined the Taleban, and then returned to the pro-peace side. They were assigned to the highway police but are not formally appointed by the Ministry of Interior Affairs (MoI). They force trucks to stop, and threaten with their guns to take money. Because they have close relations with the Taleban working with them is dangerous for us.”
However, Farah police commander Abdul Razaq Yaqubi accuses Mustafa and Bismillah of abduction and planting roadside bombs in cooperation with the Taleban. When confronted with evidence of their crimes the two resigned, he claims.
Nimroz National Security Directorate head, General Abdul Samad, who was formerly head of the Farah directorate, said he knows of a police commander called Ustad Jamal on Farah transit way and Meel 78 road who is involved in extortions and drug-trafficking. “He is active in Sheb Koh Qala Kah area,” says General Samad.
He also alleges that Qader Jan, a police officer on the highway’s 517 area, and Nesar Ahmad in Gala Mekh are involved in creating insecurity and cooperating with armed opponents.
Leaking information
The policemen are behind 30 to 40 percent of highway security incidents including robberies, abductions, smuggling ammunition, and passing on information regarding the movement of government vehicles on the Herat-Farah highway to the Taleban.
According to General Samad, commanders Qader Khan and Jamal have remained in their jobs because of the influence they command within the government while Nesar Ahmad was dismissed following the allegations against him. Killid sought very hard to interview the three but failed.
Farah police commander Yaqubi confirms the charges against the three to some extent. He says Nesar Ahmad was dismissed for dereliction of duty but Jamal was still police commander for Sheb Koh district and he was not aware of the allegations against him. In the case of Qader Khan, he says there were allegations of involvement in highway robberies, abductions and sharing information with the opponents of the government but he has now reformed, and been posted as commander of a reserve detachment on the Bala Bollook highway, assigned to clear up mines on the route.
General Yaqubi reveals there were positive changes on the Farah-Delaram highway. Police constables from five police posts were recently dismissed or transferred following complaints from drivers that they were asking for bribes. Three cases have been referred to the Attorney General’s (AGs) Office. As a result the security situation on the congested highway was considerably better.
Meanwhile, complaints continue to pour in about intimidation of passengers and drivers on the Herat-Farah highway. Abdul Karim, a driver who plies the route, says police at every police post take 50-100 Afs (1USD is 57 Afs). With between 100 and 150 passenger vehicles taking the highway every day the police, on the average, illegally collect at least 10,000 Afs (176 USD) daily from drivers daily. It is not as if the money paid guarantees the safety of passengers. According to Abdul Karim, the police, who are in contact with armed robbers and others on the road, inform them about the economic situation of passengers as well as the drivers.
When Karim is asked what was his expectation from the government, he replies, “I don’t have any hopes from the government as it is useless.” He accuses the government of supporting the police-turned-extortionists, and ignoring the plight of passengers.
Farah deputy governor Mohammad Yunus Rasooli admits to the allegations of extortion on the highway. He also says many police have enlisted in the ranks of the Taleban because of poor salaries and facilities. He urges the government to weed out the corrupt and reform the police.
The MoI is dismissive of the complaints against highway police. Najibullah Danesh, a deputy spokesperson, has no doubts about their loyalty to the force. He claims the government has recently finalised a “new strategy” for highway security that would soon be implemented. Special units for highway security would be established, Danesh says.
Well connected
Herat Governor Sayed Fazlullah Wahidi believes a quarter of the police force is corrupt, and has links with the Taleban. He counts the lack of security support for provincial governments from the MoI as one of the main reasons for the failure to secure the highway for travellers in Herat province.
He cites the case of Abdul Qayum, the police commander of Kohsan district who was arrested for his involvement in robbing a non-government organisation (NGO) of money between Herat and Torghundi. The dossier was sent to the AG’s Office but as the MoI did not support the local administration the case was closed, and Qayum was re-assigned to his old position.
Likewise Mohammad Amin Hakomat, the police commander of Zendajan district, Herat. He was accused of usurping public land. Governor Wahidi alleges Herat police commander, Samiaullah Qatra, supports Hakomat, a charge he vociferously denies.
Killid interviewed Aminullah Amin, a commander of a highway unit, who said that until the practice of assigning local police was stopped the situation on the highways would remain unchanged. He says he has taken action against police “wearing white kerchiefs” (cloth masks) who were “bothering passengers and trucks carrying loads”.
Killid has pictures of masked armed men in police uniform stopping vehicles, threatening drivers and taking money. In one set of pictures a man in police uniform stops a vehicle; the driver seems to be saying he has no money, when the man searches his pockets. As the driver continues to insist he has no money, the man looks like he is about to shoot him, when the driver hands over all his money.
MoI spokesperson Sidiq Sidiqi rejects the claims of extortion by the police. “We reject the claims, and will investigate to see if those are indeed policemen,” he told Killid.
Farah police chief Yaqubi insists the pictures are clever forgeries, and were given to Killid by dismissed policemen who were deserters.
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