Abbottabad police catch mobile snatchers

The arrested robbers used to attract their victims by using online classified websites

ABBOTTABAD: The Abbottabad police have arrested two suspected robbers who used to attract their victims by using online classified websites, cheat the public and snatch their cell phones along with other valuables.

Speaking to newsmen at the Mirpur Police Station on Thursday, Mirpur Area DSP Amjad Hussain said that police had noted that an increasing number of cell phones were being snatched in the area.

One of the cases which were reported to the police was filed by a Lahore native Waheed Aurangzeb. Aurangzeb told police that he had put his expensive mobile up for sale on the classified’s website OLX.

He was soon contacted by a man who was interested in purchasing the phone. The man asked to meet Aurangzeb and inspect the phone in a posh area of Abbottabad. But when Aurangzeb arrived at the spot, the man, instead of entering into a fair deal, snatched the phone and fled.

In a second case reported to the police a few days ago, DSP Hussain said that Hassan Hashmi of Abbottabad had similarly advertised his phone and the buyer called him to Jinnahabad. When Hashmi visited the area, the ‘buyers’  snatched his phone and fled. While fleeing, the two robbers also shot at Hashmi who suffered a bullet wound to his leg.

Subsequently, police launched an investigation into the incident and managed to trace Haris Iltaf, a resident of Nawanshehr, and his companion Peshawar Kamran Suhail, a resident of Peshawar.

Police recovered three stolen mobile phones a pistol, and a motorbike from them.

DSP Hussain said that the men had been booked and be produced before a magistrate on Friday.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 1^st, 2017.