NOWSHERA, Dec 31: Five bandits robbed a bus at gunpoint near Adamzai on GT Road here on Friday night and deprived the passengers of about Rs2 million cash, ornaments, mobile phones and other valuables.

A Daewoo bus (LZJ-9815) with 35 passengers, including women and children, on board had left the Peshawar terminal at 10.30pm for Lahore, according to a report.

The bandits held the driver, Abdul Waheed, at gunpoint near Adamzai police post on GT Road and forced him to take the bus off-road. As the bus reached a deserted place on the bank of River Kabul, the bandits looted Rs2 million cash, 10 mobile phone sets, two cameras and jewellry from the passengers and escaped in the dark.

The passengers severely thrashed the driver and registered a case against the private bus company and its security staff, saying that they had neither made video film of the passengers nor conducted any body search.

Driver Abdul Waheed told Akora Khattak police that the bus had left Peshawar for Lahore at 10.30pm and after a 10-minute stopover in Nowshera, they continued the journey. He said that when the bus reached the Nowshera Sheet Glass factory near the Adamzai police post, five bandits travelling in the bus took out pistols and held the passengers and bus staffers at gunpoint, and forced the driver to take the bus on a beaten track. He said that the bandits also beat him when he tried to defy them.

The Akora Khattak police station registered a case and started investigation. The bus hostess Yasmin had informed the police control room on her cell phone at the bandits were trying to take the bus off-road.