Man goes missing: Traders protest against kidnappings for ransom

Traders protest after the kidnapping of a trader from Hala Naka near the Hyderabad Bypass on Sunday.

HYDERABAD:

After the kidnapping of a trader from Hala Naka near the Hyderabad Bypass on Sunday, traders from the area protested against the abduction.

According to Hatri SHO Muneer Abbassi, trader Hassan Raza Khan was allegedly kidnapped on Sunday from his shop in the morning. “Four unknown suspects in a car, with the registration number ADA 394, took him away as he was parking his car after dropping his father Hamedullah Khan at the shop,” he said. A shopkeeper, Waheed Pathan, reportedly tried to save Hassan but the kidnappers opened fire on him. SHO Abbassi said that Waheed, however, was not injured.

Jabbar Khan, the leader of Hala Naka Shopkeepers Association, said that such incidents of violence, kidnappings and extortion have become frequent in the area.



“This case also appears to be an act of kidnapping for ransom,” he said, warning the police that the traders would launch a large protest by suspending transport of goods and other services if crimes were not prevented. “We want the police to rescue Hassan immediately and without the payment of ransom.”

According to the SHO, a case has been registered against four unknown persons and the police were trying to locate the car allegedly used in the kidnapping.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 3^rd, 2013.