Raid in Thul: Police allegedly set fire to houses, steal cows

Jacobabad police also rounded up over 10 suspects in kidnapping case.

SUKKUR:

In a strange raid in Thul, Jacobabad police allegedly set fire to two houses and took away 10 buffaloes and eight cows on Thursday.

They also rounded up 10 men suspected of being involved in the kidnapping of a man, Abdul Wahab Dhoho, from Garhi Hasan Sarki village nearly 15 days ago. The police team, led by Thul SPO Sharfuddin Soomro cordoned off Rasul Bux Katohar and Abdul Haq Katohar villages and launched the raid.

The policemen searched each and every house and arrested more than 10 men, including Achar Katohar and Menhoon Katohar. Some residents claimed that the police also torched the houses of both these men and took away their livestock.

SPO Soomro did admit that the police took away the animals because the residents tried to escape leaving the women and children behind. The animals are in official custody and can be taken back through the court, he said.

Residents Wali Muhammad, Kaloo, Naban, Khuda Bux and others told reporters that the police ransacked their houses and manhandled women and children. They demanded the police release the men and return the animals.

Soomro denied, however, that the police ransacked the houses and mistreated women.

He said that they raided the villages on a tip-off that the kidnappers have kept the hostage in the village.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 17^th, 2011.