KOHAT: Three persons, including a man and his son, were killed and one was injured in a road accident here on Monday.

A van going to Lakki Marwat from Peshawar collided with a truck near Shaheeda Banda. As a result, three people, including a man and his son who were travelling in the van, were killed on the spot.

The victims were identified as Sharab Khan, son Mohammad Islam of Lakki Marwat, and Shahwar Khan of Peshawar.

The injured was identified as Sanaullah. The Jarma police arrested the truck driver, Muslim Khan, and impounded both the vehicles.

The dead and the injured were shifted to the KDA divisional hospital here.

In another incident, a 19-year-old rickshaw driver, Mohammad Rehan, was shot dead by unknown attackers near Tanda dam.

The Saddar police registered case and said the motive behind the case could not be ascertained immediately.

HASHISH SEIZED: The Kohat police foiled an attempt to smuggle Rs10 million worth of hashish from Orakai Agency to Kohat and arrested a smuggler at Marai checkpost on Monday.

According to a statement, the police had received information that smugglers would try to carry a large quantity of hashish through Kohat to Punjab and Sindh.

A police party comprising DSP headquarters Abdur Rsheed Khan stopped a suspicious van and on search found 137 kilogrammes of fine quality hashish hidden in its secret cavities.

The alleged smuggler, Naqeebullah of Orakzai Agency, confessed to bringing hashish to Kohat.

The Ustarzai police impounded the vehicle and registered case against the accused.

PROBE DEMANDED: Social and political circles have demanded probe into the use of substandard material in dualisation of Rs976 million Kohat-Hangu Road.

In a statement on Monday, former naib nazim Malik Manzar Hussain, Malik Ishtiaq Hussain and Shehzad Haider said earlier an inquiry had been held into corruption in the project and the anti-corruption department had recovered Rs1.6 million.

They added that despite warnings by commissioner Kohat division, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Highway Authority had failed to ensure construction of the road as per the prescribed standard.

The road has developed big cracks, creating problems for motorists. But, the KP Highway Authority blamed the overloaded trucks for damaging the road.

Mr Shakir, the project’s assistant director, told Dawn the contractor had offered to repair the road free of cost. He said there was no check on overloaded vehicles coming from Karachi to Parachinar via Kohat and Hangu, which damaged the road.

Published in Dawn, April 19th, 2016