Armed robbery: GPO officials deprived of Rs10.5m in Rawat

Money was for staff salaries, government pensions.

RAWALPINDI:

Four armed men looted Rs10.5 million cash and other valuables, from General Post Office (GPO) officials near Bagga Morr Bhambli on Chakbelli Khan Road on Wednesday.

The three staff members were travelling in a car to deliver the cash to six local post offices in the Rawat area.

The police said the incident took place at 11am when the driver, Tassawar Hussain, GPO Cash Overseer Muhammad Tabraiz and security guard Sajjad Satti were on routine delivery duty.

When the staffers reached Bagga Morr Bhambli, four armed robbers in a white Toyota Corolla intercepted their vehicle. The robbers made the GPO officials disembark at gunpoint and snatched the bags of cash before escaping.

Soon after the incident, senior GPO officers rushed to the site along with Rawat police officials.

The police, while quoting onlookers, said the robbers were carrying automatic weapons including Kalashnikovs and wore masks to avoid identification.

City Police Officer (CPO) Humayun Bashir Tarar confirmed the incident and said that besides the cash, the GPO staff was also transporting six bags of national saving schemes certificates.

The CPO said the money was for post offices staff salaries and pensions for widows and retired government and army officials.

The robbers also snatched the mobile phones of the three men, he added.

A Rawat police official, requesting anonymity, said a team of Federal Investigation Agency officials was called in to draw sketches of the robbers after questioning of the GPO staffers had been completed. The three staffers were shifted to an unknown location while a case was registered against unidentified robbers in the local police station.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 3^rd, 2014.