May 27, 2003	Tuesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 24,1424

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MULTAN, May 26: Rajanpur police claimed on Monday to have solved the ‘mystery’ of the hijacked Karachi-bound bus carrying 13 passengers.

A bus (KPC-2147) was allegedly hijacked by nine armed people, who had boarded it in the guise of passengers, on Thursday last near Fazilpur, about 180 kilometres from here. The bus had set off for Karachi from Peshawar the same day.

The alleged hijackers had, however, set the driver, Abdul Razzaq, assistant driver Roshan Khan and conductor Hafeezullah free. They approached the Fazilpur police and lodged an FIR against the unidentified ‘hijackers’ for dacoity and kidnapping.

Police began the hunt, but without proper direction as they had no clue to the vehicle’s destination. Surprisingly, none of the relatives of any of the kidnapped passenger raised hue and cry. The rumours that the ‘hijackers’ had offloaded the passengers near Kashmore in Sindh and that the bus had been seen in Hyderabad could not be verified.

A senior Rajanpur police official, who did not want to be named, told this correspondent that the investigation had revealed that the bus after coming out of the Peshawar bus stand had shifted its seven passengers to a bus of Marwat Transport Comapny. The bus (KPC-2147), without passengers, had been sent to Darra Adamkhel according to a plan, he added.

The bus crew reached Dera Ghazi Khan through a bus of Swat Coach Company, took meals and boarded a wagon for Jampur.

Assistant driver Roshan was said to be a patient of hepatitis, who always carried injections with him in a cooler. At Jampur, he bought some medicines from a medical store, but missed the cooler and some other belongings there. The police claimed to have recovered the things from the medical store.

From Jampur, the crew stopped at Fazilpur where they revealed their ‘ordeal’ to a patrol pump owner belonging to their area. He took them to the police station.

Dera Ghazi Khan Range DIG police Humayun Raza Shafi told Dawn that the bus was taken on instalments by Lais Khan of Darra Adamkhel from Hijab Gul of the same area. After defaulting on account of instalments, Lais hatched a conspiracy which puzzled police. He said the police contacted Lais Khan to pursue the case, but he did not cooperate.

However, the police would try to recover the bus without delay, he said.