GUJRANWALA: Two dozen patients referred to Lahore from public and private hospitals could not reach hospitals on Monday due to the blockade of GT Road near Shahdara, Babu Sabu and Thokar Niaz Beg interchanges by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) activists, Edhi ambulance services sources said.

The ambulances had to return to hospitals as entrance points to Lahore were blocked by the activists in connection with their call to shut the Lahore city to protest rigging in the 2013 elections.

FIA: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) recovered Rs14.5 million from the accused of a bank fraud case and sealed two accounts for investigation’ FIA Deputy Director Sikander Malik told Dawn Darshan Singh and his wife Kanwal Kour had opened their joint account in the National Savings Centre, Model Town branch, a few years ago.

Suspect Zahid Iqbal withdrew Rs23.5 million from the account fraudulently with the connivance of bank officials and got transferred it to the account of Amjad Ali Dar, of Naushera Virkan, and Nusrat Rani. On being alerted, the FIA arrested bank manager Mazher Farooq and other staffers Muhammad Saleem and Muhammad Azeem and Zahid Iqbal and registered a case against them on the report of Kanwal Kour.

He said Inspector Shahid Pervaiz had recovered Rs14.5 million from Zahid and his accomplices while the accounts of both co-accused Dar and Rani had been sealed. He said the remaining amount would be recovered soon.

The agency also arrested 15 human agents, including half a dozen proclaimed offenders, and seized several passports and documents from them. He said the human agents arrested were: Mukhtar, Qaiser, Zulfikar, Shahid, Khalid, Mehmood, Abdul Haq, Ziaullah, Qamar Zaman, Gul Rehman, Nasir Mehmood, Muhammad Amin, Fakher Husain, Muhammad Azam and Muhammad Ilyas.

DACOITY: Six gunmen stormed into the house of a milkman in Gujjar Kot near Dhaunkal, Wazirabad, and shot dead him during dacoity late on Sunday.

The heirs placed the body in the middle of GT Road and protested the killing.

Wazirabad Sadar police said the gunmen broke into the house of Ali Zafar after looting valuables from the adjacent house of Syed Anwer Husain in Gujjar Kot. As Zafar resisted and hit one of the gunmen with a club, their accomplices opened fire at him and escaped. Zafar died instantly.

The killing sparked a protest in the locality and residents with the body blocked GT Road. They shouted slogans against police, saying they had failed to combat increasing dacoities and robberies in the area.

They dispersed when senior officers police assured them that the gang would be arrested soon. Police shifted the body to the Wazirabad Tehsil Headquarters Hospital for an autopsy. Wazirabad Sadar police registered a case against unidentified accused.

DATA: The Excise and Taxation Department have computerised data on property blocks of rural and urban areas. Also, assistant excise taxation officers and inspectors will be given a one-week computer training.

Speaking at a briefing on Monday, Excise Director Ashiq Husain Shah said urban and rural property blocks of Wazirabad, Kamoki, Ghakkhar Mandi, Alipur Chattha, Qila Dedar Singh and Ladheywala Warraich had been computerised.

He said the department would issue computerised certificates to property owners regarding the payment of their taxes.

FAINT: Two sisters and their brother fell unconscious on Monday after eating snacks from a shop in Sarfraz Colony on Monday.

Azan, 2, Benish, 4, and Ali Hasan, 3, bought packed snacks from a shop and ate it. Soon after, they passed out and were shifted to the Gujranwala District Headquarters Hospital in a critical condition.

The family demanded the manufacturers be arrested and investigated.

Published in Dawn December 16th , 2014