PESHAWAR: The North Waziristan police on Monday arrested four persons for committing a bank robbery and recovered Rs5.45 million cash from their possession.

The police also stated that two accused were still at large, but they were being traced and would soon be arrested.

Armed robbers had looted Rs7.2 million from a bank in Miramshah tehsil on April 15.

A local police official said on suspicion, a bank employee, Farooq, was picked initially, who during interrogation, revealed details of the incident.

He said Farooq told the police that Nasirullah, a resident of North Waziristan, and Zabiullah from Bannu, along with others were involved in the robbery.

Giving details, he told the police that a Kalashnikov was arranged by him, while Nasirullah had also a Kalashnikov, saying a semi-machine gun and a pistol were arranged by another accused, Hamdullah. He said a rented car was provided by Zabihullah.

The official said the mastermind of the robbery, Hamdullah, a resident of Dandy Darpakhel area of the district, was arrested on Thursday last. He said a pistol, a cell phone, a key pad and Rs0.8 million were recovered from him.

The police official said Rs4 million were recovered from possession of Nasir and Hazratullah, who were arrested on Friday (April 21).

The official said efforts were underway to arrest two other persons, including Haseenullah and Zabiullah.

Meanwhile, around 12 militants attacked and looted Rs0.3 million from Kurram Bridge toll plaza on Sunday night.

Officials said they received timely information about the attack but decided not to respond since they feared this could be a plot by militants to trap the police party, adding the group had planned to attack a building in Gandi Chowk where security measures were adopted, but the group charged the target.

“The group is based in the forest area of Kachi Qamar, where several operations were conducted in the past, but they regrouped due to help provided by locals,” a senior official said, adding an operation would soon be carried out in the area to arrest the accused.

Published in Dawn, April 25th, 2023