Bandits target ice cream warehouse

Take away Rs4m; thrash and injure four employees

RAWALPINDI:

Bandits plundered Rs4 million and four cell phones from the warehouse of a renowned ice cream brand in the Kalayam Awan area in Mandira police limits, police said on Sunday.

The gun-toting robbers also subjected the staff including the manager and the cashier to torture and took away the DVR of the CCTV camera.

Muhammad Kamran of Gujar Khan complained to the police that he worked as an accountant at the Sherry Associate Walls Ice Cream Company. On the day of the incident, he was offering prayer in the office when he heard noise and came down the stairs. An armed man standing in the gallery held him at gunpoint and later took him to the cashier’s room. Two more armed men were already holding cashier Noor Hussain, guard Anwar and sales manager Asif Niaz at gunpoint. The suspects, who were talking to each other in Pashto, asked Noor Hussain for the locker’s key. Upon refusal, one of the suspects first hit the cashier’s neck with the butt of a pistol and then started beating him with an iron wiper.

The suspects also thrashed and injured Anwar and Asif with the wiper. They then opened the locker and looted cash. During the course of time, their fourth accomplice entered the room, communicated with his accomplices in Pastho and left the place.

The three suspects locked four employees in the room, looted the cell phones of salesmen Zahid, Tahir, Qaiser and Waqas and fled with booty and the DVR of the CCTV camera from the main gate.

Kamran told the police that they could identify the accused. The police registered a case and launched an investigation with no clue so far.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 27^th, 2024.