Red-handed: Thieves who stole bridal dresses caught

Robbers used gas cutters to break into shops

RAWALPINDI: Rawalpindi Police on Saturday said they had arrested four members of a gang which stole expensive bridal dresses worth Rs10 million from shops in the garrison city.

SP Rawal said that the gang of four robbers had broken into Rajpoot Plaza in Sadiqabad area late on Friday night and early on Saturday morning. They broke the locks of around seven shops using gas cutters.

The thieves then loaded the outfits worth Rs10 million, equipment into a mini truck and fled to Taxila.

The SP added that following the robbery, a special police team was constituted under SHO Sadiqabad Police Station Yasir Rabbani which started searching for the robbers.

Using the registration number of their vehicle caught on surveillance footage, police traced the suspects. They raided their suspected hideout in Gondal Village of Taxila and nabbed the suspected thieves and shifted them to the precinct for further investigations.

Addressing a press briefing on Saturday, SP Rawal Division Malik Muhammad Iqbal said that they also recovered the dresses and the gas cutter used to cut the locks. He added that truck used in the crime had also been recovered.

The suspects, he said, were identified as Javed Iqbal, Niaz Ali, Hameed Hussain and Wasim Ali.

Responding to a query, the SP said that the robbers used to sell the dress at throwaway prices in the markets.

A case was registered against the robbers while further investigation was on, he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 25^th, 2016.