FAISALABAD, March 9: A district police team claimed to have smashed an eight-member gang of robbers and recovered a huge quantity of weapons.

District Police Officer Muhammad Amin Wains told newsmen on Wednesday that the police were in pursuit of notorious Lashkari Gang involved in several cases of heinous crimes.

He said a Samundri police team, supervised by Saddar SP Tauqeer Hayat, reached the gang's hideout and rounded up its eight members - Lashkar, Shaaban, Shahbaz, Maqsood, Amjad, Mumtaz, Tauqeer and Shabbir. The police recovered illegal weapons from their possession.

The arrested men, he said, had committed dozens of robberies in Kamalia, Samundri, Mamukanjan and other parts of the district. He said the arrest of the gangsters was a major achievement of the police and it was part of the campaign launched against proclaimed offenders.

WARNING: District Coordination Officer Athar Husain Khan has warned cable operators against showing obscene programmes. Presiding over a meeting, which was attended by administrative and police officers here on Wednesday, the DCO said satellite TV was beneficial for constructive programmes but its misuse would not be tolerated at any cost.

He said complaints had been received from the people against telecasting obscene programmes by cable operators. He constituted a committee to chalk out a code of ethics for discouraging obscene programmes on cable.

DBA: The District Bar Association has announced that it will stage a sit-in in front of the session courts for two hours daily from March 15 if appropriate steps are not taken for the smooth flow of traffic near courts.

The bar officials also called for restoration of two-way traffic on the Circular Road. The decision was taken at a meeting of the association chaired by its president Saleem Jehangir Chattha on Wednesday.

The meeting noted with concern that repeated requests were made to the traffic police and the district administration for taking measures to control abnormal rush on the sessions court road, but all efforts had proved futile. The bar office-bearers said accidents on the road had become a routine, as the police were allowing only one-way traffic.

EARTHQUAKE HOAX: Hundreds of villagers spent the night between Tuesday and Wednesday on roads after some miscreants announced in mosques that an earthquake had jolted the city.

SUICIDE: A newly-wed girl committed suicide at her house in Chak Jhumra on Wednesday. Reports said Shazia Bibi, who married a fortnight ago, hanged herself with ceiling fan after an alleged quarrel with her husband.The body was sent to the Allied Hospital for autopsy.