Seven OGDCL employees kidnapped

Police have sealed all entry and exit points of Jaffarabad district and begun a manhunt.

QUETTA: Seven employees of Oil and Gas Development Corporation Limited (OGDCL) were abducted by unidentified men near Sohbatpur in Jaffarabad district on Tuesday morning.

According to sources, a vehicle carrying the seven employees was on its way from Jacobabad to Och gas field in Sui when unidentified armed men intercepted it and took the employees away, including the driver, and left the vehicle near Ghulam Rasool Bridge in Sohbatpur, not far from the border of Dera Bugti district.

The names of five kidnapped employees have been identified as Qurban Ali, Imam Ali, Faiz Rasool, Zyed Mahmood and Sajjad, while the identity of two others could not be ascertained.

Talking to The Express Tribune District Police Officer Jaffarabad Javed Gharsheen said that the footprints of single person were found at the crime scene and it seemed as though the actual incident took place in other area.

“The officials and employees of OGDCL and other companies are usually escorted by Frontier Corps or police while traveling this route. However, the company did not even inform the FC or the Police,” he added.

Gharsheen added the police have sealed all entry and exit points of the district and mounted a manhunt in the area.

The Bugti agency and parts of Jaffarabad are considered unsafe areas as Baloch militants usually carry out such attacks there. However, no group has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping as yet.

Published in The Express Triune November 3^rd, 2010.