PESHAWAR, May 9: Money-changers have warned to go on strike from Monday if the people involved in the Motorway robbery on Tuesday night, near the Swabi interchange, are not arrested in three days.

Speaking at a news conference at the press club here on Friday, the vice-president of Pakistan Federation of Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FPCCI), Faiz Rasool Khan, president of the Currency Sarafa Association, Peshawar, president of the Markazi Tanzeem Tajiran, Haleem Jan, senior vice-president of the Forex Association of Pakistan, Shakeel Ahmed Khan Saraf, president of the Tajir Ittehad, Peshawar, Ghufran Khan, Malik Mehr Elahi, Tila Mohammad Khan and others criticised the delay in arrest of the robbers.

They said the robbers had decamped with Rs135 million after killing three security guards and injuring three others.

They criticised police for failing to arrest any of the robbers even after the passage of three days.

They warned that money-changers would observe a strike and block roads on Monday if the robbers were not arrested by Sunday evening.

They said that on Tuesday money-changers of Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan would also observe a strike. They said the money-changers would organise a protest demonstration outside the Parliament House in Islamabad on Wednesday. They also criticised the Motorway Police for their lukewarm stance on the incident.

They said when the van carrying the cash left Peshawar for Islamabad, a jeep followed it and got punctured its tires some 10 kilometres ahead of the Swabi interchange. The robbers, they said, then fired a rocket and opened firing, killing the three security guards and injuring three others. Despite a 35-minute shootout between the robbers and the security guards, they said, the Motorway Police could not reach the spot. “Who had cut the iron fencing on both sides of the Motorway at the same place three days ago? Why the Motorway Police had not taken any action on it?” they asked.

They claimed that the Motorway Police knew about the gang involved in the incident.

NOWSHERA: Police claimed to have found clue to the robbery incident on the Peshawar-Islamabad section of the Motorway.

The deputy inspector-general of police, Mardan range, Syed Akhtar Ali Shah, told journalists on Friday that investigators had found clue to the robbery and further investigations were underway. But, he declined to tell what sort of progress had been made.

“Investigations are heading in the right direction and police will soon reach the culprits,” he said.