70 flour bags snatched in Rawalpindi
An incident of stealing free flour bags was registered against the unknown accused in Dalhor area of Kahuta police station.
According to police, the truck driver named Shafqat Ali told them that unknown suspects had parked a Suzuki pick-up vehicle and blocked the path of a truck early in the morning at 8am on the last day of free flour distribution (which was Sunday).
He complained that the accused then stole mobile phones from all the people present in the truck and started loading 10kg flour bags from the truck into their pick-up. He said that they took away 70 bags of flour worth Rs45,000 in the market. Moreover, the local people present on the spot took advantage of the incident and also began to unload flour bags from the truck. A case has been registered under the section of street crime and police have begun to look for the accused. On the other hand, the Food Department Rawalpindi and district police have foiled 11 bids to smuggle 8,745 bags and 12 tonnes of wheat flour during the last three days.
According to a district administration spokesman, the authorities of the food department along with Naseerabad police conducted raids and rounded up 11 drivers named Akhtar, Noor Zaman, Syed Ahmed, Muhammad Ali, Adil, Ahsanullah, Najum ud Din, Zaidullah, Syed Bali Shah, Tahseen and Riaz and recovered 8,745 bags and 12 tonnes of wheat flour that were intended to be smuggled out of Rawalpindi division.
He said that Rawalpindi police were strictly monitoring all the exit points of the district to foil wheat and flour smuggling bids. So far, the administration has distributed 2,956,487 free flour bags among poor and deserving families in the Rawalpindi division, he added. Moreover, he said that 11 mega centres were set up in the Rawalpindi district to provide free flour to the citizens.
With additional input from APP
Published in The Express Tribune, April 18th, 2023.