KOHAT, April 12: Four people who hired a taxi for Peshawar were kidnapped and their vehicle found abandoned near Lado Ustarzai here on Friday, police said.

They said that the victims had been taken to the adjacent tribal area where the police could not go. The victims included Amir, Mirza, Imran and Sattar, all residents of Mosam Khan Banda.

The incidents of kidnapping of innocent people at the hands of militant groups are on the rise. Earlier, the militants had kidnapped three people from Hangu and later killed them following failure to pay ransom.

Dr Matiullah Shah, who was released few months after his abduction from his farm house in Kohat, said that the police did not take interest in investigation of such cases.

Talking to this correspondent, he regretted that since his release the high police officials had been asking him two questions; “how much money did you pay to the abductors and who was the middle man?” Dr Shah said that they were not interested in asking him about the abductors and places where he was kept.

He said that after his release the militants asked him to grow beard and give some time to preaching.

“I asked the militants during my captivity why are they afraid of putting hands on billionaires and rich criminals,” he said and quoted the militants as replying that those people had dozens of bodyguards and it was difficult for them to kidnap such people.

Last month the militants kidnapped two people from Lachi tehsil and were shifting them to Hangu when on their way some armed hunters got suspicious of their activity and surrounded them. They got the victims freed and let the kidnappers flee.

The police later claimed that they had recovered the victims after a search operation. —Correspondent