KOHAT: The police on Tuesday busted a three-member gang of motorcycle thieves including its Afghan ringleader, which was active in the posh KDA Township.

District police officer Sohail Khalid had formed a team headed by DSP Badshah Khan and SHO Javed Khan, who led the raids at the suspected hideouts of the criminal gangs, according to a statement issued here.

The team arrested an Afghan refugee, namely Rasool, a resident of Ghamkol Camp No 2, along with a stolen motorcycle. During investigation, he disclosed the names of his other two partners who were also taken into custody along with a motorcycle.

They were identified as Munir Akram of Jungle Khel and Awais Ali Shah of Gulshanabad.

An FIR was registered against them. The accused admitted that they picked motorcycles from the posh KDA Township and, after changing number plates and spare parts, sold them at throwaway prices in other districts.

ROAD PROJECT DELAY: The civil society has flayed unusual delay in retendering of an important road project.

In separate statements on Tuesday, president of the Grand Business Alliance Haji Abid Khan, president of KDA Township Noorul Islam and president of Kohat Peace Council Shah Mehmood lamented that the government had no regard for the lives and pains of the people, especially patients, who suffered badly while travelling on the potholed Hospital Road.

They said the stretch of the road up to the KDA Teaching Hospital from the main highway was in extremely bad shape.

They said the important road project had hit snags since 2008 despite promises made by the district administration and the lawmakers for its speedy completion.

Imdad Hussain, SDO of the communication and works department, told Dawn that work on the road was to be started in February 2021, but it got delayed due to death of the contractor.

He said under therevised PC-I, which had been sent to Peshawar for approval, the cost of the project had increased from Rs17 million to Rs23 million.

Published in Dawn, June 16th, 2021