LAHORE, Nov 7: Ravi Road police have failed to arrest the criminals who had injured a constable in a crossfire at a picket near Batti Chowk early on Tuesday morning.

The suspects, who were transporting snatched and stolen motorcycles to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, managed to escape along with the booty.

Interestingly, the officials neither arranged more policemen nor alerted the control after the suspects’ escape.

A police source told Dawn that Sub-Inspector Ghulam Murtaza set up a picket near Ayesha Degree College when he received information that a truck loaded with over a dozen bikes coming from Ring Road would pass through Batti Chowk.

The source said the police signalled a truck (E-4003) to stop around 4:30am, but its riders, who were around 16, opened fire on policemen, injuring constable Shahzad. The police firing failed to stop the suspects who managed to escape with the vehicle.

The injured was shifted to a nearby private hospital.

The police registered a case (694/12) against 11 nominated suspects and their unidentified accomplices.

The source claimed the police already knew the suspects and their transportation time, but only a couple of policemen set up the picket ‘thinking’ that only a driver and his helper would accompany the truck.

He said Mustafa of Manawan, Muqarram Butt, Afzal Butt, Rizwan and others were nominated in the FIR. Ravi Road circle DSP Aftab Ahmad Phularwan, when contacted, confirmed the incident. He disconnected his call when the reporter asked a couple of questions about ‘easy’ escape of the suspects.

City division SP (Operations) Multan Khan said the policemen during routine picket stopped the truck and faced immediate resistance by its occupiers who were robbers.

He claimed the sudden firing triggered a panic among the policemen who couldn’t identify the truck number and location. He claimed the police later identified the culprits and nominated them in the FIR.