A station house officer in Karachi has been suspended after an audio recording that surfaced on social media allegedly captured him apologising to a known drug dealer and trying to settle the matter quietly instead of taking legal action.
South Deputy Inspector General Syed Asad Raza suspended Pak Colony SHO Faisal Gul after the recording began circulating online. The police department has also decided to approach the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency, known as the NCCIA, to get the audio technically verified before any further action is taken.
The suspension has once again put the spotlight on the conduct of Karachi’s police officers and on the uneasy ties between some station-level officials and the drug trade they are meant to fight.
SHO Allegedly Asked Subordinate to Apologise
According to the departmental order, the audio first appeared on social media on 5 November. It allegedly features Faisal Gul and a police constable in what the order calls an unauthorised and compromising conversation with Kashif alias Dada, described by police as a known drug peddler.
The recording reportedly shows the SHO trying to resolve the issue through mutual reconciliation rather than through the law. The order states that he went further and directed his subordinate to apologise to the drug peddler as well, a step the department has treated as a serious breach of discipline.
The order says the SHO compromised the writ of law by choosing reconciliation with a criminal over the legal process he was duty-bound to follow. For now, the suspension is the immediate disciplinary step, and a departmental inquiry has been ordered into the episode.
Audio to Be Verified by the NCCIA
The decision to send the recording to the NCCIA reflects how central digital evidence has become. The agency examines digital material forensically, and its opinion on whether the audio is genuine and unaltered will carry real weight in the inquiry.
Such verification typically looks at whether a recording has been edited, spliced or taken out of context, and whether the voices on it match the people named. Until the NCCIA completes its work, the recording remains an allegation rather than proven fact, and the officer remains suspended rather than dismissed.
A Pattern Karachi Police Have Faced Before
This is not the first time this year that Karachi police have suspended their own officers after a video involving a drug dealer went viral. In May, three policemen, including the Garden SHO, were suspended after a suspected drug dealer was given what the public saw as VIP treatment at a court appearance.
The suspect, Anmol alias Pinki, was produced before a judicial magistrate without handcuffs, walking ahead of her escorts and smiling for the cameras. The footage spread quickly online, and Sindh Home Minister Ziaul Hassan Lanjar took strict notice, ordering immediate action.
Pinki had been arrested from her flat in Garden East in a joint raid by police and a civilian intelligence agency, where officers recovered one and a half kilogrammes of cocaine, nearly seven kilogrammes of other substances used to manufacture drugs, and an unlicensed nine-millimetre pistol. She was later remanded to prison. The two cases differ in their details, yet they point to the same problem: officers seen treating a suspected drug dealer with a deference that put personal accommodation ahead of the law.
The Wider Fight Against Drugs in Karachi
Karachi police say they are pressing ahead with a sustained campaign against narcotics. In April alone, District Central police arrested 103 suspects in 95 drug cases, recovering thirty-three and a half kilogrammes of hashish along with heroin, ice and liquor.
In September, Korangi police busted what they described as a major interprovincial drug network in Landhi, arresting two key suspects from the same family and recovering nineteen kilogrammes of crystal methamphetamine, commonly known as ice, worth more than two hundred and fifty million rupees. DIG East Dr Farrukh Ali announced the operation, and the Sindh home minister publicly praised the force.
Only days before the audio surfaced, Karachi police arrested two suspected members of an international cocaine trafficking network in Gulshan-e-Iqbal. Sindh’s narcotics control minister, Mukesh Kumar Chawla, has repeatedly said indiscriminate action will be taken against drug peddlers, no matter how influential they are.
What Happens Next
The Pak Colony case embarrasses the department precisely because it undercuts its own message. A force that presents itself as cracking down on drug networks cannot afford to have one of its station heads caught, even allegedly, apologising to a peddler and pressing for a private settlement.
The inquiry will have to establish whether the audio is authentic, what exactly was said, and whether anyone else in the station was involved. Suspension is a holding measure, not a verdict. If the NCCIA confirms the recording and the inquiry finds the SHO at fault, the department will face pressure to go further, possibly with dismissal. If the audio is fabricated, the officer will expect to be restored.
Either outcome leaves a lesson behind. For officers, a private conversation can become public evidence within hours. For the department, viral accountability is no substitute for the supervision, training and internal checks that stop such incidents from happening in the first place.
