Coastal raid: Six Customs officials kidnapped in Jiwani

The Balochistan Liberation Army claimed responsibility for the kidnappings.

QUETTA:

Armed men kidnapped six officials of Pakistan Customs from a coastal area of Balochistan on Sunday.

Tufail Baloch, the deputy commissioner of Jiwani, said nearly two dozen gunmen kidnapped five Customs officials, including an inspector, and their cook from a checkpoint in Jiwani.

“About 20 to 25 men armed with sophisticated weapons raided the checkpoint at 12:30pm. The Custom officials might have surrendered to the attackers,” Baloch told The Express Tribune.



He added that the gunmen also drove away three vehicles of Pakistan Customs. Jiwani is a coastal township near the Arabian Sea.

The Balochistan Liberation Army later claimed responsibility for the kidnappings.

“The armed men besieged the checkpoint and kidnapped the Customs officials,” a local official told The Express Tribune requesting anonymity. He added that mostly Baloch militants carry out attacks in the region where Sunday’s kidnapping took place.

Paramilitary Frontier Corps and Balochistan Levies have launched a manhunt for the kidnappers who, according to Collector Pakistan Customs Dr Hamid, fled towards the Sun-Sar area.

The banned Baloch Liberation Front had claimed responsibility for a deadly attack on Pakistan Coast Guards in Gwadar about four months ago.

In other violence, a local officer of Balochistan Levies was shot dead by unknown men in Kharan district on Sunday in an apparent targeted attack.

According to officials, the victim – identified as Tehsildar Liaquat Jan – was targeted near Girls College while he was driving to his office. He received multiple gunshot wounds to his head and chest and died on the spot.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 18^th, 2013.