DERA ISMAIL KHAN: Three tribal youth, including a prison inmate, died by suicide in separate incidents in Dera Ismail Khan and Tank districts, the police said on Sunday.

Tank district police officer Aslam Nawaz Khan confirmed that a prisoner held in a drug-related case at the region’s prison died by suicide. The deceased was identified as Mahmood Afridi.

According to jail authorities’, on Sunday morning, the inmate attempted to hang himself in the bathroom using the waistband of his trousers. Prison officials immediately shifted him to the District Headquarters Hospital, Tank, but he succumbed to his injuries.

Faheem, an 18-year-old watchman at a mobile shop near the Tank Adda Chowk, ended his life by shooting himself dead the previous night. He belonged to the Mehsud tribe and is a resident of Kotla Saidan here, sub-divisional police officer Hafiz Mohammad Adnan said.

The police officer said the young man was a drug addict and had told his brother the night before that he “would not be alive in the morning.” Later, his body was shifted to the District Headquarters Hospital.

In a third incident, 19-year-old Muneebur Rehman, belonging to Wazir tribe, allegedly shot himself dead in Landa Sharif area in the jurisdiction of Gomal University police station.

His body was transferred to the District Headquarters Hospital. The police have registered preliminary reports and started investigating the cases.

DRUG SMUGGLERS ARRESTED: The Dera police arrested two members of an inter-provincial drug trafficking gang and seized high-quality ice drug worth millions of rupees from them.

Dera police spokesperson Syed Yaqoob Bukhari said acting on a tip-off SP Saddar Mohammad Nawab Khan supervised a major operation against drug smugglers in Darazinda tribal subdivision.

He said two inter-provincial drug traffickers, Attaullah, a resident of Quetta, and Habibur Rehman, a resident of Kalat, were apprehended while crossing the inter-provincial border through a secret route from Quetta.

“The police recovered 3,045 grams of high-quality ice worth millions of rupees from their possession. A case was registered against the accused,” he said.

Published in Dawn, March 24th, 2025