GILGIT: In light of recent criminal activity at Babusar Top, police officials claimed that one suspect involved has been arrested while the search for others was underway.

On July 13, a video of a tourist who was robbed by an armed man in the area went viral.

A police official told Dawn that the incident happened within two kilometres of the junction points of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Gilgit Baltistan (GB).

The people involved in the incident were being searched with the help of video and pictures provided by the tourist.

The tourist, Wahaj Awan, was accosted by an armed man at a peak near Babusar Top. When he tried to run from the spot, the suspected man opened fire in the air. However, Mr Awan managed to flee.

Mr Awan further narrated in the video that when he reached out to GB police at a checkpoint present at the top, the officials refused to believe him.

After he showed them the pictures and videos he took along the way, that was when authorities showed some concern.

Additionally, he stated that the local police insisted on deleting the photos and videos of the armed locals from his phone, without any concrete reason Separately, another a tourist group was looted at gunpoint near Babusar Top on July 12.

The tourists were from Karachi and KP and they were stuck due to some mechanical fault in their vehicle.

Babusar Top, at a height of 13,691 feet above sea level, is a famous tourist point that connects KP with GB. It is situated north of the 150km long Kaghan Valley, connecting it via the Thak Nala with Chilas on the Karakoram Highway.

Published in Dawn, July 22nd, 2023