July 07, 2008	Monday	Rajab 3, 1429

KOHAT, July 6: Local militants kidnapped son of a coal mine owner and his friend from Bazikhel area, Darra Adamkhel and whisked them away to an undisclosed location on Sunday.

The militants took the son of a coalmine owner, Ayub, and his friend. However, the motive behind their kidnapping was not clear. The names of the kidnapped men could not be ascertained.

The local Taliban, who earlier used to collect Rs1,000 from coal mine owners per truck as tax for their day-to-day expenses had raised the amount to Rs3,000 per truck after their return to the area, following the military intervention.

Meanwhile, the Taliban sent a peace jirga to the elder of Blakikhel sub-tribe of Akhorwal, Malik Wali Mohammad, who had detained four Taliban and beaten them up, when they were caught disconnecting electricity line of his hujra.

The local Taliban had raided the house of Wali Mohammad along with Wapda staff and disconnected one extra line to his hujra on June 28.

SMUGGLING BID FOILED: Hangu police foiled an attempt to smuggle flour to Afghanistan and recovered 1,420 bags of different sizes from five vehicles during checking on Thall road on Sunday, official sources said.

The police had set up a checkpoint on the main road on a tip-off that smugglers would send a consignment of flour to Thall for supply to Afghanistan through Kurram Agency.

The vehicles were carrying 1,260 49-kilogramme bags and 160 80-kilogramme bags. The police seized the commodity and arrested the drivers. Cases have been registered against them. The vehicles included two trucks (PRS-7392 and PRK-4515), a bus (Peshawar-K-9092), a mini-truck (PRD-4774) and a Toyota pick-up (KT-9730).

The sources said the smuggling took place through unfrequented routes and the police received Rs15,000 from each truck at Thall border, they said, adding that the vehicles entering NWFP from Punjab were charged Rs6,000 per truck.

The sources revealed that the smugglers paid extra amount to the border security forces while bringing back the flour from Afghanistan to the tribal areas.

They said that the police officers were appointed in turn at lucrative posts for three to five months at Kohat-Parachinar road.

TMA OFFICIALS SUSPENDED: NWFP Secretary Local Government Hifzur Rehman conducted a surprise raid at various offices in Kohat district and suspended two more senior officials of the tehsil municipal administration (TMA), Dawn has learnt reliably.

On Saturday, the secretary visited the TMA building and was briefed on the financial problems faced by the department, outstanding electricity bills and the faulty machinery including tractors and shovels.

During the visit, he asked the acting accounts officer, Farzand Kayani to show him the budget for 2008-09, but he failed twice to produce it.

Later the secretary was told that the budget for current fiscal year had not been prepared as yet due to unspecified reasons. At this the secretary suspended the accounts officer and Assistant Tehsil Municipal Officer (Finance) Shaheedur Rehman on the spot.