MURREE, March 3: Over 40 people including a union council nazim and a councillor were deprived of cash and valuables by four highwaymen near Kotli Sattian on Friday night.

The robbers blocked the road at Jawamandi, about two kilometers from Kotli Sattian, and looted the commuters for about two hours.

Javed Satti Inqilabi, the UC nazim of Malot Sattian, told this correspondent that he was returning home from Rawalpindi when he found the Jawamandi road blocked. Two robbers wearing veils along with their two accomplices carrying sophisticated weapons deprived him of Rs5,000.

The bandits also snatched Rs9,000, a cellphone and press and national ID cards from Risalat Chishti, a local journalist, and Rs29,000 from councillor Rab Nawaz Satti.

The robbers looted Rs250,000 and thirty cellphones from the passengers of about 17 vehicles including four cars and two pickups.

He said they managed to inform Kotli Sattian town nazim Haji Shehzad Niamat Satti about the incident who directed the Kotli Sattian police to rush to the scene. However, the police reached at the crime scene after two-and-half-a-hours when the robbers had already fled to the nearby forest.