BAHAWALPUR, Nov 17: The district police claimed to have smashed an inter-provincial gang of highwaymen and arrested its eight members, District Police Officer Sohail Habib Tajik told reporters on Saturday.

Police came into action on the complaint of Haji Riaz Ahmed, of Lahore, that on Nov 3, he had dispatched a consignment of carpets worth Rs400 million by a container (ZBT-3549) to Karachi. The consignment could not be delivered to its addressees.

On his complaint, Musafirkhana police registered an FIR. During investigation, the police traced the container and driver Roshan Zamir, who proved to be the main accused. According to the DPO, Roshan Zamir confessed that he with connivance of eight others had allegedly stolen the consignment. Police have arrested five accused: Muhammad Nawaz, owner of a roadside restaurant near Musafirkhan; Muhammad Jamil and Abdul Hannan from Shahdra Basti of Bahawalpur; Abbas Ali Shah of Lodhran, Muhammad Aslam of Dunyapur and Muhammad Sadiq of Musafir Khana here while their gang’s two members Asghar Shah of Lodhran and Muhammad Sadiq of Musafirkhana were absconding.

GARDEZI: The funeral prayers of former deputy district nazim Syed Owais Gardezi, a relative of former prime minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani was offered at local Eidgah. A large number of people, including PTI leader Jahangir Tareen, former and incumbent parliamentarian and political activists attended the funeral rites.

Gardezi was found dead in Sadiqabad on Friday. His family refused to allow his postmortem examination. He is survived by a widow, two sons and as many daughters.