Law and order: Bhera traders protest late-night looting spree

The robbers rounded up the guards, tied them up and gagged them.

BHERA:

The Jewellers’ Association on Monday staged a demonstration and observed a strike to protest a marketplace robbery in Bhera. They were joined by several traders’ associations.

As many as eight armed robbers took away cash and gold jewellery worth more than Rs20 million from 10 shops in Sarafa Bazaar, Bhera, at 3am on Sunday.

Police said that eight unidentified Pashtu-speaking men in two black and white cars stopped at Chakkwala, a busy town square, in Sarafa Bazaar. Muhammad Kamran, a guard, confronted the men but they told him that the Bhera SHO had sent them to list security guards on duty. The men, dressed in civilian attire, rounded up the guards, Muhammad Kamran, Muhammad Ramazan, Basheer Bhachar, Maiko, Saraf Mulazam Ali and Naveed among others, and tied their hands and feet, and gagged them. The robbers also beat up some passers by and shopkeepers in the square. They also picked the locks on shops in the market and stole Rs20 million in gold jewellery and cash and fled.



On Monday, shopkeepers, traders and several citizens gathered at the square and protested against the incident. The protesters announced that they would continue their protest till the criminals were arrested.

The protesters said that crime against property was increasing in the area. They demanded increased police patrolling in busy markets and squares. They said while many shopkeepers had reported robberies, rarely had anyone been arrested.

Jewellers’ Association president Malik Muhammad Hussian, secretary general Mian Abdul Jabbar and Haji Ahmed Qureshi addressed the protestors at Kutchery Bazaar. They said that traders were being forced to shut down their businesses because of increasing robberies and abductions for ransom in the city. They expressed disappointment at the police’s failure to control crime in the area. They requested the government to provide security to traders and arrest the suspects as soon as possible.



Bhera police in charge, accompanied by a heavy police contingent, reached the scene and tried to placate the protesters. They assured them that the robbers would be arrested soon. He said several check posts had been set up on the Motorway.

Sargodha District Police Officer Raja Basharat Mehmood also visited the demonstration and told the protesters that maintaining law and order was a priority for the police. “The suspects will be arrested in 10 days,” he told them.

Pakistan Muslim League district vice-president Pir Farooq Bahawal Haq Shah said the prime minister, chief minister and the Punjab Police inspector general would be informed about the increase in crimes in the area.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 7^th, 2014.