Student who identified drug peddlers shot dead

QUETTA: A university student, who was running a campaign against drug peddlers, was shot dead in the town of Nushki.

Samiullah Mengal, who was studying for a BS degree in the Zoology Department of the University of Balochistan, was attacked by unidentified men outside his home in the Qaziabad area of the town.

The attackers, who were riding a motorcycle, also injured two other men as they fired gunshots at the student.

Samiullah had identified drug peddlers and the locations where narcotics were sold during a public hearing presided over by the Rakhshan Division commissioner around two months ago.

His relatives and other residents of the area staged a protest outside the office of the Frontier Corps, shouting slogans against drug smugglers and demanding the arrest of the murderers.

The protesters maintained that the student was killed by drug peddlers as he had identified them and was trying to rid the town and other areas of the province of narcotics.

They dispersed after Deputy Commissioner Abdul Razzaq Baloch, FC Commandant Col Muhammad Asif and DSP Abdi Sheerzai assured them that the culprits would be rounded up soon.

A case was filed on behalf of the student’s family and search for the attackers is under way. 

Published in The Express Tribune, February 15^th, 2020.