PESHAWAR, April 6: Police on Wednesday gunned down a member of a kidnappers' gang, Noor Jan, in encounter and recovered a businessman, Mohammad Farooq, from a house here in Peshtakhara.

“Noor Jan of Bara Malak Din Khel had kidnapped Mr Farooq from Kot Lakhpat, Lahore, on March 7 and kept him in a house at Hazratabad,” said SP Cantonment Circle Shafiullah Khan at a press conference at Peshtakhara police station.

Referring to a case registered by one Ghulam Rasool at Liaquatabad police station, Lahore, the SP said that the accused had kidnapped the businessman at gunpoint from his shop.

He said that the gangsters had been identified when they talked to the relatives of Mr Farooq on cell phone and demanded a ransom of Rs1 million for his release.

The SP said that he was leading the police party at the time of raid to recover the businessman when the accused opened fire and did not let the policemen enter the area. He said that the kidnapper was killed in retaliatory fire by police. He said that while other accused escaped the police recovered a Kalashnikov and cartridges from the spot.

Another source revealed that one suspected person was also arrested for interrogation soon after the encounter.

Meanwhile, police have arrested several suspected people during a search operation in suburban areas of Peshawar. A police spokesman said that 55 people had been arrested and seven of them were proclaimed offenders.

He said that the search operation had been conducted in Paharipura, Yakatoot, Peshtakhara, Sarband, Nasir Bagh and Matni. He said that six Kalashnikovs and narcotics had also been recovered from the possession of arrested people.

He said that the accused, including Shabin Gul, Janat Gul, Sajjad Ali, Faqir Hussain, Khalid, Salamat, Amir Nawaz and Aftab, were wanted to police in various cases.

He said most of them were Afghan nationals, who used to change their residences in short intervals.

In another case, the Cantonment police recovered 30 kilogram hashish from a car (AB-6467) during checking in the limits of Regi police station. However, the driver escaped leaving behind the car near a graveyard. The spokesman said that car was going from the tribal area towards Peshawar city.