Two drown

GUJAR KHAN, May 14: Two young men drowned in the suburban areas of Gujar Khan during the last 24 hours.

According to sources, Mohammad Shoaib, a resident of Dhoke Chaudhrian drowned in a local dam on Sunday evening while Waqar Masih, a resident of the city on Monday evening got entangled in the marshy area of Nullah Kansi and died. — Correspondent

Robbers have field day

RAWALPINDI, May 14: Four gunmen forced their way into the house of a businessman in New Mulpur on Monday and took away jewellery worth Rs 12 million and cash.

Irfan Mir, the robbery victim, said he was having lunch along with his mother, sister and younger brother when four persons, three of them masked, entered and held them at gunpoint.

He said: “They tied me and my younger brother with rope and started searching rooms. They remained in the house for more than 15 minutes and made off with 200 tolas of jewellery, lying in the locker, and Rs 18,000 from my purse.”

In another incident, Mubashir Nazeer was robbed of Rs50,000 and a mobile phone by three gunmen in the Airport Police area.

Ahmad Ammad, an army man, was robbed of Rs15,000 and other valuables by two gunmen in the Airport Police area. — Staff Reporter

AJK official arrested

MUZAFFARABAD, May 14: The AJK Ehtesab Bureau on Monday evening arrested a BPS-19 officer of the Public Health Engineering Department under charges of corruption.

R.M., who also held the position of acting chief engineer for quite some time, is alleged to have raised properties beyond his known sources of income besides hiding two bank accounts in a statement of assets.

The bureau detected “unexplained deposits” worth Rs11.9 million, said a spokesman for the EB. — Staff Correspondent

Two held, arms seized

TAXILA, May 14: Wah Saddar police on Monday foiled a bid to smuggle huge cache of arms and ammunition from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) to Punjab and arrested two alleged smugglers.

Sub-divisional Police Officer Taxila circle DSP Raja Taifoor Akhter while briefing newsmen here said that acting on a tip off, police launched checking of vehicles at the Wah Garden picket and during search of a Rawalpindi-bound passenger van coming from Nowshera three rifles of 7MM bore, three 30-bore pistols and 80,000 bullets of the pistol were recovered from hidden parts of the vehicle.

The DSP claimed that two accused identified as Sajjad Ali and Fahim Khan, residents of Nowshera were also arrested. “During preliminary interrogation, the outlaws confessed to the crime and disclosed that they were assigned to deliver the consignment to a man named Mujahid at Pir Wadhai Rawalpindi bus terminal for onward supply to Lahore,” the DSP claimed. Police have registered a case and started investigation.— Correspondent

Chinese youths visit Numl

ISLAMABAD, May 14: In order to further promote friendship between the youths of China and Pakistan, a 100-member delegation of All-China Youth Federation visited the National University of Modern Languages (Numl) on Monday.

Chinese cultural counsellor to Pakistan Zhang Yiung Pao also accompanied the delegation which was headed by deputy secretary general of the youth federation Wan Xuejun.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Xuejun said each member of the delegation would be an ambassador of Pakistan-China friendship when they return to China. He said the delegation comprised young businessmen, artists, teachers, researchers, mediapersons, students and workers and it demonstrated how eager were both the nations to know about each other and develop close brotherly and people-to-people relations.

Every year, hundreds of Pakistani students visit China and Chinese students come to Pakistan for studying different disciplines and these students guarantee a very bright future for the friendship of both the nations.

Rector Numl Masood Hasan told the delegation that a Chinese department and the Confucius institute at the university showed that Pakistani people wanted to have more cultural, social and economic ties with their brotherly neighbouring country.

The members of the delegation also visited the Chinese, Confucius departments and the library.— A Reporter

‘Thief’ dies in police custody

ISLAMABAD, May 14: An alleged thief, wanted by Vehari police in buffaloes’ theft case, died in police custody on Monday and autopsy report suggests that brain haemorrhage has caused his death.

A three-member board carried out autopsy on the body of Zafar Hehmood Kiani, 65, in the presence of his brother and did not find any internal and external wound.

However, a head X-ray detected bleeding in and around the brain confirming that one of his blood vessels had burst due to high blood pressure.

The accused was wanted by Vehari Saddar police in connection with 12 buffaloes theft case.

On May 10, a Vehari police team came to the capital and approached the Shahzad Town police to seek his arrest from his house in Pindorian.

A joint raid was conducted which led to his arrest and the recovery of the buffaloes.

Later, the accused, a patient of high blood pressure, was shifted to police station and legal process was under way to shift him to Vehari. On Monday his condition deteriorated and police tried to take him to hospital but he died before receiving any treatment. — Staff Reporter