Daman-e-Koh robberies: Police clueless about robbers

Officials say they are patrolling troubled stretch of road, hope to expand their investigation

ISLAMABAD: Despite questioning several suspects and analysing cellular data of the area, police in the capital have yet to find a credible clue leading them to the gang of robbers who had looted several motorists, including a group of air force officers, near Daman-e-Koh on May 27.

A gang of four to five armed men had blocked the road near Daman-e-Koh early on the morning of May 27 and proceeded rob several people snared in the trap as they returned after having Sehri at hilltop restaurant near Peer Sohawa.

The gangsters managed to loot four people travelling in a car at gunpoint while some other cars, after witnessing what was happening, sped past the roadblocks they had placed in the middle of the road. Among the victims were three squadron leaders of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF). When intercepted, they tried to reverse uphill, but the gangsters managed to snatch a purse from one of the officers.

The robbers also allegedly shot at the car, but the bullet went out from the other side of the car, luckily hurting no one.

The Kohsar police had subsequently registered a case for armed robbery against the unidentified gangsters. However, police have yet to make a breakthrough in the case and track down the suspects.

“We have interrogated several people from the area who have criminal records. Moreover, we geo-fenced the area so that we can determine all those who were in the area at the time of the incident,” a Kohsar police officer told The Express Tribune.

The officer said that could also investigate some suspicious local government employees since the suspects seemed to be intricately familiar with the terrain, having vanished into the jungle soon after the incident.

Apart from some locals, police are also looking into suspects from villages of the neighbouring Haripur district.

“We have found nothing in the case so far,” investigation officer Muhammad Akram told The Express Tribune.

The police, however, have identified three vulnerable spots along the Monal-Daman-e-Koh route and have increased patrolling at these spots since the incident.

As part of the new patrolling plan, two police pickups and two motorbikes will patrol the 10-kilometre stretch from Monal restaurant to the zoo.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 4^th, 2018.