LAHORE: Armed guards of a private security company reportedly fired shots on a car rider at Dharampura Underpass, thrashed him and fled the scene, leaving a vehicle and some weapons on the spot.

A video clip of the incident went viral on social media, showing the armed security guards escorting a luxury vehicle blatantly violating the laws and displaying weapons.

As per the clip, the traffic slowed down at the underpass when the security guards exchanged heated arguments with a car rider on the road.

More than a dozen gunmen holding sophisticated weapons got out of the double-cabin vehicles, rushed to the car rider and exchanged arguments with him. One of the armed men took aim at the car rider and fired shots. A bullet hit and pierced into the body of his car.

At this, the other motorists condemned the extreme violence act of the attackers and came to the support of the young car rider. The young man, later identified as Muhammad Imran through his social media post, took a daring step, got out of his car and overpowered the guard who fired a shot.

The footage showed the other armed men came to the support of their accomplice, thrashed the young car rider publicly, rescued the guard and fled the scene.

However, due to the traffic congestion they preferred to leave one of their vehicles and some rifles on the spot/road when they observed the Dolphin Police reaching the site and situation became tricky for them.

A spokesperson for the Lahore police said that the Dolphin police had reached the site on being alerted and seized the abandoned vehicle and the weapons of the fleeing security guards. However, the suspects could not be traced.

Taking notice of the incident, he said, Lahore Operations DIG Faisal Kamran issued an order to lodge a case under the Anti-Terrorism Act against the security guards and the unidentified man being escorted by them. He said a police team had been formed to trace and arrest the attackers with the help of the Safe City cameras.

Meanwhile, the young man who came under attack made his appearance on social media and introduced himself as Muhammad Imran, a trader by profession. He said that he acted when the armed guard tried to fire a second time and overpowered him.

Published in Dawn, March 14th, 2025