SHANGLA: The police have arrested a gang of human traffickers from Upper Kohistan district and recovered a girl, ‘abducted’ from Alpuri here on Feb 4.

SSP investigations Aqiq Hussain, in a statement issued here on Monday, said a resident of Lilownai area of Alpuri had registered a complaint with the Alpuri police station on Feb 5, stating that his young daughter had been ‘abducted’ by a person from Upper Kohistan district.

The statement said the SSP had formed a team, which investigated the case and arrested the main accused, namely Hazrat Khalid from Kohistan, and recovered the ‘abducted’ girl from him the other day. The accused confessed the girl’s abduction, and said he had sold her for Rs150,000 to a man, namely Gul Rahman, also of Upper Kohistan. He also identified his other accomplices.

The police statement said Hazrat Khalid had persuaded the girl to marry with him, and on the night of Feb 4, he took her away from her house in Lilownai.

The police said they had also arrested the other members of the gang, including Mohammad Raham, Mohammad Ayaz, Saifur Rehman, Fazal Haq and Gul Rehman, whom the girl was sold. They all belonged to Upper Kohistan.

The police said the girl told them that her ‘abductor’ had links with a women trafficker group.

SECURITY: Malakand regional police officer Sajjad Khan visited the 11MW Karora hydropower project on Monday, and directed to improve the security at the site to thwart any untoward incident.

Shangla district police officer Muhammad Imran and others also accompanied the RPO.

RPO Sajjad Khan directed the project director Sarfaraz Khan to ensure elaborate security arrangements for the residences of Chinese engineers.

Published in Dawn, February 14th, 2023