GUJRAT: As many as 15 robbers looted cash, gold, foreign currency and other valuables worth Rs30 million from seven houses on Friday night at Aqiqa village in Kharian Sadar police precincts.

Armed men first entered the house of Sibtain Abbas, owner of a petrol pump, when a family member opened the door on the knock by one of the servants of the house, not knowing that he (the servant) had already been taken hostage by the robbers.

The gunmen locked the family members in a room and collected Rs3 million cash, 10,000 Euros (PKR1.3m), 116 tola gold ornaments, two costly wrist watches, two guns and a pistol from different rooms.

After collecting the cash and valuables from Abbas’s house, the robbers entered the neighbouring houses of Younas, Saqib, Waseem, Anwar, Nasir and Zeeshan from where they took away 80 tolas of gold ornaments, around Rs2 million cash and other valuables, and fled the scene.

The police have registered only one case against unidentified robbers under section 395 of the Pakistan Penal Code on the report of Abbas, mentioning all the seven house that were looted by the robbers.

A police spokesman said the crime scene unit had collected forensic evidence from all the looted houses, claiming that important clues about the criminals had been found.

Published in Dawn, February 18th, 2018