SWABI: Five unidentified robbers here took away Rs2.5 million cash and other valuables from a house in Yar Hussain village after taking the inmates hostage in broad daylight on Sunday, the police and the house owner said.

SHO Yar Hussain Abdul Wali Khan told Dawn while quoting Khalid Khan, the house owner, as saying that five robbers, wearing masks, forced their way into his house and made all the inmates hostage. “The robbers pretended they belonged to police and were in search of an outlaw. They also warned the inmates if anyone tried to move they would be killed,” he told the police.

The police officer said of the five robbers, two held the inmates at gunpoint, while the others searched the house, collecting Rs2.5 million cash, including some foreign currency, 84 tola silver ornaments, 4.5 tola gold jewellery and six precious mobiles. They decamped while locking the inmates in a room.

SHO Abdul Wali said the same group was involved in a robbery incident in Mardan.

The Yar Hussain police registered an FIR and started investigations.

Meanwhile, the house owner told Dawn that he had to keep the cash at home to bear expenses of his daughter’s kidney transplant at a private hospital in Islamabad. He said each month he needed Rs180,000 for her treatment.

Published in Dawn, February 28th, 2022