June 15, 2007	Friday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 29, 1428

QUETTA, June 14: The Balochistan police freed Dr Tahir Ayub Memon, the son of a former Pakistan People’s Party MNA Babu Ghulam Hussain, and arrested five of his alleged kidnappers in the Jaffarabad area, some 250kms east of here, on Wednesday.

An armed gang had kidnapped Dr Memon from his native town of Thatta and drove him towards Balochistan. The Sindh police approached the Balochistan police and informed them about the incident.

Sources said that the Jaffarabad police cordoned off the highway and all other routes linking Sindh to Balochistan.

They said that the police signalled to a vehicle near Hafizabad but its driver kept on going. The police informed other police posts about the vehicle.

Soon a heavy contingent of police and the Anti-Terrorist Force rushed to the site and cordoned off the entire area. Finding no route to escape, the driver stopped.

Police asked the armed men in the vehicle to surrender. However, they refused to do so but agreed to release Dr Tahir Memon on condition that the police provide them a safe passage. The police rejected the demand.

Sources said that in the meantime Provincial Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Mir Abdul Rehman Jamali and District Nazim Mir Khair Mohammad Jamali arrived on the scene. On their intervention, Dr Tahir’s kidnappers released him and turned themselves in.

Police recovered three AK-47 rifles, an automatic weapon and hundreds of rounds of ammunition from their possession. Their vehicle was seized.

The Jaffarabad DPO identified the kidnappers as Dildar Jawnri, Habibullah, Imtiaz Ali Korkani Buledi, Ali Sher Khosa and Mohammad Yousuf Buledi.