GUJRAT, Sept 2: More than 120 dacoities were reported in different parts of the district during the month of August, according to a survey.

The worst-hit areas included Jalalpur Jattan, Lalamusa and Serai Alamgir. Sources said more than 20 dacoities were committed in the area within the jurisdiction of Jalalpur Jattan Sadar Police Station, around 40 in the range of Lalamusa city and Sadar police stations and more than 25 in the jurisdiction of Serai Alamgir and Kharian police stations.

Residents from different walks of life, including businessmen, traders, lawyers, doctors and politicians, expressed grave concern over the rising incidence of dacoities and thefts in the district.

They said the police had failed to maintain law and order in the district. A majority of the dacoity victims alleged that the police had lodged softened reports describing dacoities as thefts and refused to register several complaints. In a majority of cases, the area police were unable to arrest the dacoits and recover the booty. According to them, the situation could be controlled by replacing inefficient police officials and by enhanced patrolling at night.

The following were some of the major dacoities in different parts of the district during the month.

Six armed dacoits in police uniform made off with 52 tolas of gold and Rs42,000 in cash from the house of Wapda SDO Chaudhry Khalid in Ladha Sadha village of Jalalpur Jattan.

Three bandits decamped with Rs240,000 in cash and 20 tolas of jewellery from the house of Mazhar Shah in Kot Amir Hussain, Jalalpur Jattan.

Several passers-by were deprived of hundreds of thousands of rupees by four robbers near the Bhagowal Kalan village, Jalalpur Jattan.

Three bandits intercepted one Usman Farooq near Behram Warrah, Jalalpur Jattan, and snatched his motorcycle and Rs24,205 and $500 in cash at gunpoint.

A homeopath, Ashfaq Saleem, was deprived of Rs20,000 in cash and his mobile phone when three intruders entered his clinic on Bhimber Road in the precincts of civil lines police station.

Five dacoits forced their entry into the house of lady councillor Rukhsana Rasheed in Mungowal town, Kunjah (constituency of the chief minister), held up the inmates and decamped with Rs110,000 in cash, 15 tolas of gold ornaments and other valuables.

An employee of Malik Traders, Salim, was deprived of Rs337,000 in cash by three motorcyclists near Muslimabad in the area of B-Division police.

Some unidentified intruders barged into the house of a trader Malik Arshad in the jurisdiction of B-Division police and shot dead his wife Azra Parveen and son Mahad (7). They decamped with Rs250,000 in cash and 40 tolas of gold ornaments.

Three unidentified dacoits snatched Rs800,000 in cash from a flour-mill owner, Ahmad Shahzad, in Gala Mandi, Lalamusa.

The president of Lalamusa PML-N, Yasin Butt, was deprived of Rs8,000 by three dacoits in the area within the jurisdiction of city police.

Six bandits looted Rs70,000 from a house in Mohallah Meharabad in Lalamusa.

Three robbers intercepted Ilyas on Ganja Road in the area of Lalamusa Sadar police and snatched from him Rs20,000 in cash at gunpoint.

Four bandits made off with Rs62,000 and 10 tolas of gold ornaments from the house of Khalid Hussain in Chak Murtaza in the precincts of Lalamusa Sadar Police Station.

Six bandits whisked away Rs300,000 in cash and 20 tolas of gold jewellery from the house of an oil dealer, Raja Shabbir, in the Theekrian village of Lalamusa.

A butcher, Sanaullah, was deprived of Rs21,000, a motorcycle (GTG-5086) and his 30-bore licensed pistol by three masked dacoits in the area of Dinga police.

Eleven dacoits decamped with 30 tolas of gold jewellery and other valuables from the house of Raja Afzal in Serai Alamgir.

A fruit dealer, Qamar Abbas, was deprived of Rs82,000 in cash and injured critically by three bandits in Serai Alamgir.

One Bashir had drawn Rs40,000 from a bank in Serai Alamgir when three dacoits snatched the money from him.

Six intruders whisked away with Rs200,000 in cash and 10 tolas of gold ornaments from the house of Abdul Manaf in Kharian.

Four robbers intercepted a car (IDH-3490) near Baiga and snatched, at pistol point, Rs100,000 from the riders.

Three dacoits intercepted a Tonga near Dahar village of Kharian and snatched gold jewellery worth Rs40,000 from three female passengers.

Four dacoits decamped with a booty of Rs272,000 from the house of Akram in Doga Colony in the limits of Kharian Cantonment.

DEMO: A large number of traders and residents on Tuesday held a demonstration to protest against the killing of wife and son of a trader in a dacoity incident. Traders of the Chowk Pakistan area observed a shutter-down strike to mourn the incident.

The protesters assembled at Chowk Pakistan where they chanted slogans against the area police for failing to arrest the culprits.