BAHAWALNAGAR: A serial earring snatcher has confessed to ripping the earlobes of more than a dozen elderly women while snatching their gold earrings over the course of three weeks, says Rao Atir Zeeshan, a patrolling police official.

In the recent three weeks, earring theft incidents have increased inside the Sadar police’s jurisdiction, he told Dawn. The events occurred in broad daylight and involved a motorcyclist picking out elderly women on the streets or taking them to a desolate location while posing as a representative of the Benazir Income Support Program.

The lobes of 65-year-old Anwari Bibi’s ears were severed on March 19. After taking her gold earrings, a motorcycle thief fled, but was stopped by a four-person squad. The suspect was identified as Bakhtiyar from Pakpattan. He revealed that he was released from jail about 20 days ago and since then he had been targeting elderly women every day. After hearing the news of the biker’s arrest, Asia, Gulzaran, Anwar Begum, and Naseem Bibi, all with wounded earlobes, visited the Gajyani check post and told the officials that they were also robbed of rings by him.

The police said that the man had been charged with more than 20 heinous crimes in Pakpattan and Bahawalnagar districts. The patrolling police handed over the man to the Sadar police.

ENCOUNTER: A gunman was shot dead during an alleged encounter with the police in Minchinabad.

A police handout claimed that three people opened fire on a police team at Dhak Pattan Road and burst the tire of the police van when the police tried to stop them.

The police retaliated, and during cross-firing, one of the suspects was killed by the bullets fired by his own accomplices, however, his accomplices managed to escape. The deceased was identified as Majid, who was wanted to police for a number of heinous crimes, including robbery and murder.

Published in Dawn, March 25th, 2023