3 min readFeb 9, 2000 12:00 AM IST
First published on: Feb 9, 2000 at 12:00 AM IST
LONDON, FEBRUARY 8: Col Mohammed Hamid, a military attache at the Pakistan High Commission in London was caught having sex with a prostitute. According to media reports here Col Hamid, who is married and has children, was spotted by the police picking up the prostitute in the notorious red-light area around London’s King’s Cross station.
Col Hamid drove and parked his car on Camley Street — a dead-end street in the middle of an industrial estate backing on the King’s Cross freight terminal — it was here the police caught up with him. According to press reports, police officers peered in through the car window and “caught the prostitute committing a sex act on him.”
Police sources are quoted in the Sun newspaper as having said: “There was a lot of shouting and confusion. He then produced identification showing him to be the military attache for the Pakistan Embassy. He demanded immunity from prosecution and the officers were forced to let him go.”
The prostitute was let off with a formal police caution after she admitted soliciting and indecency. The source told the Sun: “The diplomat got the shock of his life. But the Bobbies cops at the scene were furious. Anybody else would have been carted off down to the nick before you could say Hugh Grant.”
A spokesman for Scotland Yard spokesperson confirmed that “A male and female were spoken to. The man was found to have diplomatic immunity.” The British Foreign Office said that it was “aware of the incident.” The Pakistan High Commission, asked to comment, insisted that the press reports were “not in fact factual.” Tariq Azim, the press advisor told The Indian Express that Col Hamid, had been returning home, when he got caught in traffic and “lost his way.” He apparently “pulled into” Camley Street, which can only be reached via a maze of small interconnected streets, to look at a map. It was then, according to Azim, that “the girl jumped into the front seat uninvited.”
According to Azim, Col Hamid reported that a policeman knocked on his door, asked him if the girl was with him and he said “no.” The policeman then asked him if he knew that she was “a known hooker” and when he said “no” was told that in times like these it was good to be cautious.
Asked what the High Commission intended to do since it claimed the press reports were slander, Azim said: “We are protesting to the Sun
.” Asked whether Col Hamid was going to take the paper to court to clear his name, he said: “We are considering all options.”
Share
