May 16, 2005	Monday	Rabi-us-Sani 7, 1426

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RAWALPINDI, May 15: Five people, including three policemen, were injured in an exchange of fire between police and liquor smugglers at Rialto Chowk here on Sunday. As many as 400 bottles of liquor were also seized. Deputy Superintendent of Police, City, Chaudhry Aftab Ahmed told Dawn that police were tipped off about smuggling of liquor from the cargo office of a private company at Rialto Chowk to Gujar Khan.

A three-member team of Waris Khan police station, comprising head-constables Razaq Shah and Ahmed Khan and constable Mansab Khan, raided the place and found some people loading a huge quantity of liquor onto a Suzuki Carry van (LXZ-5590).

When the culprits saw the police, two of them, identified as Sajid Bashir and Sheikh Azam, opened fire at the police, while the other two managed to escape.

However, they were seized after a brief exchange of fire. All three constables also received injuries. Search is on to arrest the rest of the two culprits.

The wounded policemen were shifted to the Rawalpindi General Hospital, while the injured smugglers were shifted to the District Headquarters Hospital (DHQ). Later, a critically injured head-constable was shifted to the DHQ Hospital.

Preliminary investigations suggested that the liquor consignment had been brought to Rawalpindi from Lahore and was being shifted to Gujar Khan.

Shortly after the fleeing of the two culprits, commandos spread throughout the city to trace them out.

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