MUZAFFARGARH: During a crackdown on the oil mafia, the Qureshi Police Station foiled the bid of smuggling of 50,000 litre Iranian oil in a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) gas tanker on Friday.

The confiscated oil tanker was handed over to the Customs officials.

According to details, police got a tip-off that the smugglers had adopted the new method of smuggling Iranian oil in the LPG tankers.

SHO Iftikhar Ali Malkani along with his team took possession of 50,000 litres of Iranian oil that was being smuggled in the LPG tanker.

During the last week, police had seized 180,000 litres of smuggled Iranian oil and handed it over to customs officials.

The arrested oil smugglers disclosed that their vehicles laden with Iranian oil were reaching Dera Ghazi Khan from Balochistan without any issue. Sources said that before the caretaker government, many local politicians were facilitators of oil smugglers besides senior officers of police and customs.

District Police Officer Syed Hasnain Haider informed the customs high-ups about the situation and ordered the police officials to continue the crackdown on oil smugglers.

INJURED: Robbers allegedly stabbed two young men during a robbery bid at Basti Mirani in the limits of the Khairpur Sadat Police Station late on Thursday night.

One suspect was caught by the locals while his two accomplices managed to escape.

According to the details, the robbers broke into the house of Majid Hussain Mirani. When Majid woke up, the suspects caught him. Ghulam Murtaza, a member of the family, also made a noise and called the neighbours who came to his help. Seeing this, the robbers opened fire. The two youths caught one of the robbers who stabbed both the young men with a knife.

In the meantime, more people from the neighbourhood reached Majid’s home after hearing the noise. Two robbers escaped from the spot while one was caught. People called the police emergency and handed the suspect over to them.

The arrested suspect was identified as Shakir alias Bigi, son of Ghulam Farid Chhajra, a member of Chhajra gang.

Published in Dawn, August 19th, 2023