KOHAT, Jan 8: The security forces arrested four tribesmen from Darra Adamkhel bazaar on Tuesday for their involvement in preparation of fake educational degrees and certificates.

Officials said that a raid was conducted following information that a group of people was preparing fake degrees and certificates and selling them to aspirants from Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. They said that certificates and degrees of various boards and universities were being printed at an office in Hakeem Khan market in the main Darra bazaar.

The tribal area of Darra Adamkhel is a Frontier Region of Kohat, which was under the administrative control of army since the uprising of militants in 2008.

The security forces accompanied by khasadars also seized dozens of plain pages of degrees and certificates besides fake official stamps from the shop, said the officials.

Those arrested were identified as Ashna Khan, Shadeed Khan and Sahib Khan, while the name of the fourth one who was nabbed in a separate raid could not be ascertained. All the four accused have been whisked away to an unknown place in Kohat for investigation.

An official at the office of assistant political agent confirmed the raids and said that none of the accused was handed over to them.

INQUIRY DROPPED: The headmaster of government middle school, Ustarzai, who had declared a half day holiday in his school due to his personal engagements, was able to get his suspension from duty reversed after he met the provincial education minister, sources said.

They said that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Education Minister Sardar Hussain Babak was on his way to Hangu when he saw schoolchildren playing on a roadside during official timings. They said that the students told him about the holiday when the minister inquired from them.

The minister visited the school and asked the headmaster about the matter, who told him that half day holiday had been ordered by the executive education officer, Kohat.

Mr Babak called the EDO for confirmation who denied any such orders. The minister ordered suspension of the headmaster who later travelled all the way to Hangu along with some Awami National Party leaders to meet him for an apology. The sources said that the minister had accepted his apology and stopped action against him.

Observers say that this could send a wrong message to other teachers in Hangu, Darra Adamkhel and Orakzai Agency many of whom were already not taking interest in ensuring their presence in schools while drawing their salaries.