SUKKUR, Jan 1: Eighteen people were recovered in a police raid on what was described as a ‘private jail’ within the remit of the Sultanpur police station in Pano Akil taluka of Sukkur district on Tuesday.

The raid was conducted on the orders of the district and sessions court, Sukkur.

A peasant, Hashim Kohli, had filed a complaint with the court stating that his family and relatives had been kept in illegal confinement for bonded labour by a landlord on his lands in the area.

The court ordered the Sultanpur police to conduct a raid and recover the bonded labourers.

On Tuesday, the police raided the specified area and recovered seven men, six women and five children kept by the landlord.

The police said that the recovered labourers would be produced in court on Wednesday.