Bus robbed at ‘fake’ picket, Rs150k looted

Cash and mobile phones also snatched from four truck drivers

JARANWALA:

Two major robbery incidents were reported in one night in Buchiana. Unidentified suspects took a family hostage on Friday evening and looted Rs250,000 in cash and six tolas of gold jewellery. In another incident, robbers looted a passenger bus and four trailer drivers by setting up a barricade on Nankana road, one kilometer away from Buchiana police station, early in the morning.

Three unidentified suspects broke into the home of Mian Mohammad Irfan on Friday evening and took the family hostage and stole Rs250,000 in cash and six tolas of gold jewelry at gunpoint.

However, the second incident of robbery took place on Saturday morning, approximately one kilometer away from Buchiana police station. Four armed suspects parked a trailer loaded with sugarcane in the middle of the road and stopped an air conditioned passenger bus coming from Islamabad.

Read Bandits rob paan shop in broad daylight

They took a total of Rs150,000 rupees in cash, mobile phones from passengers Mohammad Ramzan, Amjad and Rauf and gold ornaments from a female passenger. Meanwhile, thousands of rupees in cash and mobile phones were also stolen from four drivers who were taking sugarcane to a mill.

The bus passengers alleged that when they went to report the incident to the nearby Buchiana police station, staff in the police station locked the main gate and were sleeping, even after the victims repeatedly knocked on the main gate. SP Jaranwala, DSP Juranwala and SHO Police Station Buchiana reached the scene upon receiving reports and started searching for the suspects. However, police have been completely unsuccessful in finding the suspects thus far.

Local residents demanded that higher authorities deploy an elite force to effectively patrol Buchiana and its surroundings.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 7^th, 2024.