ISLAMABAD, April 26: Police on Tuesday arrested 16 members of a gang who allegedly stole explosives and detonating devices from a store of Fecto Cement Factory.

Police raided a village in mountains behind the factory and arrested 16 men. For the first time police also took along paramedics and ambulances as they were expecting retaliation. But fortunately not a single shot was fired from both sides.

Probing the April 13 robbery at the magazine of the Fecto factory, investigators found out that the culprits operated from the village, a safe haven for them as it was surrounded by mountains. Cordoning off the village, policemen searched houses, wooded areas and fields during the raid.

However, the gang’s leader was not among the arrested men. Police said he had escaped to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

According to police, the accused were stealing explosives and detonating devices for selling them to stone crushers operating in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. —Staff Reporter