RAHIM YAR KHAN: Local police helped a Russian couple wandering in the town after they ran short of money.

City A Division station house officer Asadullah Mastoi told Dawn that he spotted the couple – Shuravin Andrei (35) and his wife Svetlyakova Daria (27) held Russian passports – during patrolling on the Shahi Road on Tuesday afternoon.

The woman who could communicate in English told police that they were visiting historical places in Pakistan. A couple of days ago they visited Drawar Fort in Cholistan from where they reached Uch Sharif to see centuries old shrines there.

The SHO said when they ran out of money in Uch, a car owner gave them a ride and dropped them here. He said police arranged their stay at the City police station and served them with dinner and breakfast.

Mastoi said as their next destination was Mohenjo Daro in Sindh, police gave them some money, spared an official van which dropped them at Kot Sabzal, the Sindh-Punjab border 40km from here, on Wednesday. He said the Sindh police was also informed about their movement.

Sources said local police were unaware about the presence of foreigners in the city till Tuesday though the special branch was supposed to monitor their movement for security reasons.

Published in Dawn, January 9th, 2020