RAHIM YAR KHAN: Police claim to have foiled an attempt by a honey trap gang to kidnap a wedding band on Tuesday.

Reports said nine members of a group “Sunny Brass Band Baja” including Sajjid Hussain, Mumtaz Ali, Ghulam Abbas, Muhammad Qasim, Nabeel Ali, Malik Tariq, Mohsin, Faisal Abbas and Muhammad Nawaz were booked by an unknown person through a cell phone call that their wedding function will be held on Jan 2, 2024 at Ubaro, neighbouring tehsil of Sindh near Kot Sabzal along Punjab-Sindh border.

The band members started their journey from Sadiqabad for Ubaro by a wagon on Tuesday morning. When they reached at Kot Sabzal border, police inquired the band master about the travel and he said they were going to Ubaro for performance at a wedding.

After investigation, the anti-honey trap cell at Kot Sabzal check post learnt that there was no function at Ubaro. The police stopped the band members from further travel and offloaded them from the van.

Police spokesperson Saif Ali Wains told Dawn that the dacoits of Katcha area of Sindh failed to kidnap the innocent people by swindling.

He said dacoits are now using the method of business, marriage, fake faith healing, and function performance to trap the people for kidnapping for ransom.

He claimed that the Rahim Yar Khan police have rescued more that 251 people of different cities of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab from kidnapping for ransom through honey trap by Sindh Katcha area dacoit gangs.

Published in Dawn, January 4th, 2024