Police stop people hiding in a truck en route to K-P near the Islamabad toll plaza. PHOTO: EXPRESS
19 caught sneaking out of lockdown
The men were asked to disembark the vehicle and were asked if they were aware of the prevention measures
RAWALPINDI: With all intra-district and inter-provincial transport shut as part of lockdown precautions against the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, around 19 people stranded in the city were caught trying to sneak out of the city in the back of a truck.
The National Highway and Motorway Police (NHMP) on Thursday said that they had intercepted a goods-bearing truck travelling from Multan. Upon inspection, they found around 19 daily-wage workers and labourers crammed in the back, hidden between goods, to sneak past the security pickets.
Officials said that these people, who have not had any work in the federal capital owing to the lockdown, were trying to return to their native areas in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) and Punjab. Owing to the absence of buses or other forms of public transport, they hid in the back of a truck.
The men were asked to disembark the vehicle and were asked if they were aware of the prevention measures imposed by the government owing to Covid-19.
The men, however, appeared to be unaware of the measures. The police officials issued them a warning and directed them to return to their dwellings in Islamabad. The truck was allowed to proceed to its destination.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 3rd, 2020.
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