KARACHI, Dec 11: Bandits stayed three hours at a petrol pump next to the Rangers Headquarters at the Jinnah Courts on Dr Ziauddin Ahmed Road and got away with Rs94,000 from there early Monday morning.
During the hold-up, they also provided service to motorists and motorcyclists and received cash from customers, employees of the filling station said.
The staff of the filling station complained that they went to Civil Lines police station many times to lodge an FIR, but police were reluctant to register an FIR. Now it was 60 hours since the robbery was committed. We made repeated efforts to lodge an FIR in these past 60 hours, but police refused to register the case, they added.
On the other hand, the Civil Lines police drew a blank on the incident, claiming that they had no information about any robbery at Bestway Service Station. A duty officer at Civil lines police station, Bhatti, said on Wednesday evening: “No one has turned up so far to report the incident.”
Staff of Bestway Service Station told Dawn that nine armed men came to the filling station around 2:45am on Monday.
The bandits parked their Suzuki Hi-roof beside the filling station on the main road.
“They came in asking for water, and held the employees at gunpoint,” an employee said.
The armed men, clad in shirts and trousers, and covering themselves with shawls, severely beat two staff members asking them to identify the cashier, who was sleeping in the manager’s room, said Jehangir, who was on duty at the time of the robbery.
Finally, they broke open the manager’s room, where the cashier was sleeping. They collected cash and also broke open another door leading to the backside, where uniforms were hung. They also took away the uniforms of the staff.
“When they were trying to break open the inside door it caused a loud noise, but no one came to our rescue,” cashier Zaheer Ahmed said.
“Parking of vehicles on Dr Ziauddin Ahmed Road in front or near the Jinnah Courts up to this filling station is banned. Vehicles cannot be stopped at this place even for a few minutes, but the bandits’ vehicle remained parked on the road for more than three hours and no one objected to it,” he added.
