BAHAWALPUR, Dec 7: The Pak-Saudi joint army exercises were held for the first time in the military areas of Southern Punjab.
According to an ISPR press release issued here on Tuesday, Vice-Chief of Army Staff General Ahsan Saleem Hayat during his visit to the area witnessed the exercises 'Al-Samsaam-1.' The army contingent from Saudi Arabia comprises six officers, 13 JCOs and 120 personnel of other ranks.
The VCOAS, accompanied by Saudi Land Forces Operations Chief Maj-Gen Ali Zaid Khawaji, Bahawalpur Corps Commander Lt-Gen Syed Parwez Shahid, Training and Evaluation Inspector General Lt-Gen Zarrar Azim and other senior officers went round the area and met troops of both the countries.
He commended the hard work and the efficiency displayed by them. Saudi chief Ali Zaid Khawaji appreciating the joint training standard said that the military interaction would continue in future.
3 GANGS SMASHED: Police have smashed three inter-district gangs of bike-snatchers and dacoits and recovered valuables from their possession. This was claimed by District Police Officer Arif Nawaz at a press conference here on Tuesday.
He said the district police arrested six vehicle-lifters and recovered 10 motorcycles which they had sold in the tribal areas of Balochistan and Dera Ghazi Khan. He said the dacoits' gang known as Mazhar Shah alias Mazhari gang was operating on national highways in the districts of Bahawalpur, Multan, Lodhran, Vehari, and Khanewal and recovered from their possession the stolen property worth about Rs8 million.
Two robbers of the gang were arrested. The DPO said the dacoits' second gang, led by Kabir Ahmed Channi, was involved in a number of murder cases. Two members of the gang were nabbed.
