Garbage truck, tanker snatched at gunpoint

Solid Waste Management truck found but water tanker still missing.

LAHORE: A garbage truck and a water tanker of the Solid Waste Management Company (SWMC) night were taken away by dacoits from the SWMC’s warehouse in Harbanspura on Saturday.

The truck was later found parked near the Sheikhupura toll plaza. The water tanker remains missing.

According to the Harbanspura police, eight armed men entered the warehouse, located near the Ring Road. The place is used as a parking lot for vehicles of the Aziz Bhatti Town administration and the SWMC. There were 30 vehicles parked in the lot at the time of the robbery. Four SWMC employees were on duty.

The police said that the dacoits entered the warehouse pretending to be citizens with a request for a truck to dispose of waste from their area. Having entered the warehouse, the men tied the SWMC staff members in a room and demanded keys to the vehicles. They then fled with a truck and a water tanker.

The staff managed to untie themselves and called the police. The traffic police were also informed to keep a check on the stolen vehicles.

Early Sunday morning, the police located the garbage truck parked near the Sheikhupura toll plaza. It was locked from within. The water tanker has still not been found.

SWMC authorities said they suspected involvement o some terrorist organisation in the stealing of the vehicle.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 20^th, 2010.