One-wheelers confronted by police open fire in Lahore

Passer-by suffers bullet injury

LAHORE:

A passer-by was injured after a group of motorcycle one-wheelers allegedly opened fire at a police team trying to stop them in Liaqatabad.

According to an FIR registered under Section 324 (attempt to murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and other provisions, the police team had intercepted about 80 riders of more than 50 motorbikes involved in one-wheeling near Pindi Stop on Peco Road.

The suspects tried to escape and resorted to pelting stones and firing when the police tried to chase and arrest them.

The report stated that one of the suspects, Faiz Shah, opened fire with a handgun, causing a bullet injury to the passer-by, Ali Abass.

He was shifted to a nearby hospital.

The police arrested nine suspects identified as Umar Farooq, Sultan Khan, Ahmad, Salman, Adnan, Adeel, Kashan, Ismail, Khaleel and Asad.

Following the incident, a crackdown was launched against one-wheelers and dozens of suspects were arrested from across the city.

Missri Shah police arrested two suspected one-wheelers, Shadbagh nine and Muslim Town police 11.

Cases were registered against the arrested suspects.

The incident occurred on a day when as many as 75 per cent of the road traffic accidents reported across Punjab involved motorbikes.

At least six people died, whereas 1,145 were injured in 1,050 road crashes during the past 24 hours.

Official data showed that 937 motorbikes, 57 auto-rickshaws, 99 cars, 22 vans, seven buses, 20 trucks and 112 other types of vehicles and carts were involved in the traffic accidents.

Following the accidents, 521 people were shifted to hospitals, while 624 with minor injuries were treated at the incident sites by Rescue Medical Teams.

The data showed that 567 adult and 58 underage drivers, 180 pedestrians and 404 passengers were among the victims.

The statistics showed that 240 road accidents were reported in Lahore, which affected 285 people, followed by 91 in Faisalabad with 86 victims and 55 in Multan with 50 victims.

The victims included 895 males and 256 females, of whom 193 were under 18 years of age, 633 aged between 18 and 40 years and 325 above 40 years.