At least 25 special permits had been issued to Arab dignitaries earlier last year, allowing them to hunt the internationally protected houbara bustard during the hunting season 2011-2012—File Photo

QUETTA: Unidentified armed men on Thursday looted around Rs 60 million from a Qatari minister in Balochistan province, DawnNews reported.

According to levies sources, Qatar’s petroleum minister Sheikh Ali bin Abdullah Thani Al-Thani was on a hunting trip in Turbat when the armed miscreants stopped his car and got away with the loot.

Sheikh Ali is a member of the supreme council of the royal family of Qatar.

The assistant commissioner of Turbat had initiated an investigating into the incident and no arrests had been reported yet.

According to an earlier Dawn report from last year, at least 25 special permits had been issued to dignitaries belonging to the Arabian peninsula allowing them to hunt the internationally protected houbara bustard.

The dignitaries were allotted several different locations in Pakistan. Sheikh Ali was allotted the Turbat district in Balochistan.