02 February 2004	Monday	10 Zilhaj 1424

PESHAWAR, Feb 1: Bandits and robbers remained on a looting spree and deprived dozens of people of cash and valuables on the outskirts of the provincial metropolis during the past one week.

More than 15 cases of robbery were reported from various parts of the city and its surrounding areas, sources said on Sunday. The sources claimed that some robbers also used police uniform in a case to strike.

Bandits deprived the local residents of valuables on Inqilab Road in the limits of Badhaber police station, but the police remained unaware of the crime, the sources claimed.

In the Mathra police station jurisdiction, a gang of robbers snatched at gunpoint money and valuables from people on Warsak Road during the past week. A local resident, Mohammad Kabir, said that he was deprived of his belongings by some robbers on Warsak Road when he went to the Mathra village to buy a sacrificial animal. He alleged that the Mathra police were also involved in the crime.

Robbers could not dare to strike if the police were not involved with them, he observed. Last week, the police hushed up a case of kidnapping of two school buses and making hostage 140 students for about four hours by union Nazim in his private Hujra to secure the release of his kidnapped relative.