TAXILA: Three persons died while as many were injured in different incidents in the jurisdictions of Attock and Wah Saddar police stations on Sunday.

Police said 35-year-old Mohammad Azam and 45-year-old Ahmed Banaras were attacked by an axe during a dispute between two groups over the cutting of trees. Both died as a result of injuries. Ahmed Khan, 27, was injured and taken to District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital.

Moreover, a teenage boy died and his two friends were injured critically when a recklessly driven dumper crashed into their motorcycle near Asifabad.

Sources in police and Rescue 1122 said Zain along with his friend Adnan Sadeeq and Abdul Rehman were together when the accident happened. Zain died on the spot while his friends received critical injuries.

The deceased was shifted to Tehsil Headquarters (THQ) Hospital while the injured were taken to Wah General Hospital. Soon after the incident, locals of the area gathered on G.T. Road and traffic remained suspended as they protested for over an hour against National Highways and Motorway Police. They said that action needed to be taken against the dumper mafia because of whom countless people have lost their lives.

Meanwhile, a teenage girl was abducted by unknown persons from the jurisdiction of Wah Cantonment police station. Shahnawaz reported to police that his 15-year-old daughter went missing when she left house to buy food from the market. Respective police registered separate cases and started further investigation.

Narcotics smuggling attempt foiled

Attock police on Sunday foiled a bid to smuggle a huge quantity of drugs worth millions of rupees from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to Punjab and arrested one person. According to police, the drug smuggler is a member of an inter-provincial gang of drug smugglers and was attempting to smuggle the drugs from KP to Sargodha.

District Police officer Arif Shahbaz Khan told journalists on Sunday that during checking, police intercepted a motorcyclist who was carrying travel bags in a suspicious way. He said that during search, police found 10 kilogrammes of heroin packed in the bags.

He said that the price of heroin in the national market is around Rs10 million. During preliminary interrogation, the arrested man, a native of Sargodha confessed that he was a member of an inter-provincial gang of drug smugglers.

The DPO said that a case has been registered against him under section 9(c) of Control of Narcotic Substances Act and further investigation is underway.

Published in Dawn, May 16th, 2022