LARKANA, Jan 11: Three kidnap victims were recovered after a brief encounter near Ratodero on Tuesday when Qambar-Shadadkot police launched an operation in the mountainous area of Kachho.

Those recovered are: Qadeer Abbas Qureshi, Mohammad Hassan Mengal, residents of Nawabshah, and Abdul Qudoos Qalandarani, a resident of Quetta. They were kidnapped from between Sultankot and Abad while going to Quetta on December 19 in a car, the DSP of Ratodero Meeran Khan Durrani told journalists at a press conference in Ratodero.

According to him, when police approached the spotted area in village Anmb Jatoi, 15 kilometers off Ratodero, the criminals opened fire on them. Police retaliated but the kidnappers left behind three kidnapped men and escaped. Police recovered the three chained victims from a room in, the DSP said.

“The captors only provided one time meal to us and since our kidnapping they kept on changing the locations to avoid police action,” the freed kidnap victims said. Some times they beat us for arranging ransom money, they said. Police have yet not recovered their car.

OPERATION: Meanwhile Qambar-Shadadkot police have launched an operation in the mountainous belt of Kachho to recover five people from the district over the past 40 days.

“We have rounded up more than a dozen suspects and torched their hideouts in village Murad Shah adjacent to Khuzdar, DPO Captain Azfar Mahesar told Dawn. He said more than 200 commandos took part in the operation and 18 new police pickets alongside the dyke running parallel

with Hamal Lake had been established thereby containing the movements of dacoits. I believe that all the five kidnapped victims are kept in the hideouts in the Kachho area, the DPO said and added that he was monitoring the operation from a base camp established in Ghaibidero.

The five kidnapped included: Rahel Paichoho, Satesh Kumar, Fida Hussain Suhag, Jai Kumar and Tasawwar Ali. Rahel Paichoho had been kidnapped about 40 days ago from near Wagan on the Indus Highway while coming to his hometown Lalorounk.

Satesh Kumar was abducted 15 days ago from his shop in Warah. Fida Hussain Suhag, Jai Kumar and Tasawwar Ali, residents of Jhal Magsi, Balochistan, were kidnapped from a Larkana-bound wagon about 11 days ago near Bahram town.

The DPO said that gangs of dacoits, led by Wichhoon (Scorpion) Chandio, Abbas Chandio, Gulbahar Magsi and Usman Wako were actively operating in the district who had reportedly kidnapped all five people.

When asked what was the reason behind the rise in crime in Shahdadkot-Qambar district, he said the bandits’ gangs which had previously been operating in Garhi Khairo and other areas bordering Balochistan, had shifted from there due to flood and now they were committing crime with other gangs.

He said as soon the police picketing of reserve police was withdrawn, it had provided space to the criminals. However with the newly-established police pickets the gangs would be smashed.

When contacted the DIG Larkana Din Mohammad Baloch, who had just returned Larkana from the area of the operation, said that within a couple of days, not only the kidnapped victims would safely be recovered but the kidnappers would also be arrested.

Sources said that police had picked 12 persons of Chandio and Burira tribe to mount pressure on the dacoits to let-off the kidnap victims.

He said so far six people had been kidnapped from Qambar-Shahdadkot district but the DPO said the number was five while sixth one Shamasuddin Kumbhar is an aged person who was missing from village Chaudero on Larkana-Wagan road. He was not kidnapped, he said.

The victims’ relatives are in touch with police and the influential of the area for their safe and early recovery, sources said.

It was learnt that Raheel Paichoho had talked to his parents on cell phone. They denied about the demand of any ransom by the kidnappers. His relatives had reportedly approached the Chief of Chandio tribe Nawab Sardar Khan Chandio.