Rs90 Lakh Gold Stolen From a Police Locker in Nawabshah: What Every Jewellery Buyer Should Learn

What Happened in Nawabshah

According to news reports, gold jewelry worth Rs 9 million (90 lakh) was stolen from the evidence room of a police station in Nawabshah (Shaheed Benazirabad), Sindh. The theft surfaced during a routine inventory check, and Sindh Police ordered an internal review of security arrangements at police stations across the province.

In a related report, Sindh IGP Javed Alam Odho took notice of the disappearance of 52.5 tolas of gold kept as case property in the malkhana of A-Section police station. Four police personnel were booked and arrested over alleged negligence and involvement, and the IGP ordered a complete and transparent investigation to recover the gold and bring those responsible to justice.

If the Strong Room Is Not Safe, Where Is Yours?

This case carries an uncomfortable lesson. An evidence room is supposed to be the most secure place in a police station: sealed, logged, and guarded. If gold can quietly vanish from there, every family should ask a simple question: how safe is the gold sitting in your own cupboard?

Most families keep their gold in the bedroom cupboard or drawer that every visitor has seen at some point. Burglars generally know exactly where to look. The first rule of gold safety is to stop treating 'home' as automatically 'safe'.

Buy Only With a Proper Bill, Every Time

Recovered gold and case-property gold always live under a cloud of paperwork. When a piece has no bill, no shop name, and no record of who sold it, a buyer cannot verify its purity or its history. If that piece was ever part of a criminal case, holding it without documents can pull an innocent buyer into trouble they never asked for.

• Ask for a printed bill showing the shop's name, the date, the weight in grams or tolas, the karat (purity), the making charges, and the net amount paid. A bill that does not mention weight and purity is barely better than no bill at all.

Where to Keep Your Gold

For gold you do not wear every day, a bank locker remains the safest common option in Pakistan. The yearly rent is small compared with the value of even a single necklace, and a locker cannot be opened without your key and your signature.

• If a bank locker is not possible, split your gold across two or three genuinely different spots at home instead of one obvious box. Tell as few people as possible where they are, and avoid keeping everything together in the place guests and workers see most.

• Photograph every piece from the front and back alongside its bill, and keep the photos and a scanned bill somewhere outside your home, such as your phone's cloud backup. If gold is ever stolen or lost, these are the records the police will ask for first.

Insure What You Cannot Afford to Lose

Some banks and insurers in Pakistan offer cover for valuables kept in lockers or at home. Ask your bank what it actually covers, because many customers assume locker contents are insured when they are not. A short written confirmation is always better than an assumption.

• Keep a simple list: piece name, weight, karat, purchase date, and the shop's bill number. Update it whenever you buy or sell. Clean records also make resale smoother: a jeweller generally places more trust in gold whose paperwork is clear.

Jewellers who keep clean records are generally the same jewellers who will stand behind a piece years later. When you choose where to buy, treat record-keeping as part of the product, not a favour.

A Quick Word on Today's Rate

On Wednesday, the official sarafa rate stood at Rs434,536 per tola for 24K gold after a drop of Rs900, with 10 grams at Rs372,544 and the international price near $4,120 per ounce. Rates move every day, so always check aaj ka rate before buying or selling instead of acting on yesterday's number.