LAKKI MARWAT: The police arrested 14 villagers for threatening officials the mines and minerals development department during a protest demonstration in Mangala area of Lakki Marwat district on Tuesday.

An official said that the Dadiwala police personnel rushed to a rain-fed watercourse after learning that around 50 armed villagers had gathered there to agitate against the contractor.

He said the protesters made provocative speeches against the officials of the department, adding the police arrested 14 men and seized weapons from them. It is worth mentioning here that the residents of Mangala area had also boycotted the last anti-polio drive to protest against the minerals department’s contractor who, they alleged, was excavating sand from their lands without their permission.

They ended the boycott on assurance by officials of the district administration that the issue would be taken up with the relevant authorities. In a separate development, the Bannu police on Tuesday arrested two people and seized the money they had looted from a man.

District police officer Imran Shahid told journalists that Akhtar Zaman and Gulzar Ali had on Sunday looted over Rs3 million from Habibur Rehman, a resident of Tank district, in Fatimakhel area.

The victim reported the matter to the police, whereupon a team headed by SP investigations Zia Hasan was constituted to trace the accused, he maintained.

Mr Shahid said a party of Saddar police station raided a suspected hideout in the general bus stand and arrested both the accused.

Published in Dawn, August 11th, 2021