SUKKUR: The Shikarpur police on Tuesday safely recovered seven kidnap victims in a joint operation with Rangers and intelligence personnel in the Shah Belo riverine area of Sukkur.

A heavily armed gang had stormed its way into a house in Sukhiyo Malik village within the limits of the Bachal Bhayo police station of Chak taluka to kidnap the sleeping family on Saturday-Sunday night. Later, they uploaded a video showing the hostage in their custody and asked the law-enforcement agencies to stop using drones in the ongoing anti-dacoits operations in the riverine areas.

Shikarpur SSP Shahzaib Chachar told the media on Tuesday that the joint operation to recover the hostages was launched in the Shah Belo area the very next day.

He said they included a four-year-old boy, Salman Malik. The other freed victims were identified as Abdul Aziz, Noor Mohammad, Farman, Shafi Mohammad, Ahsan and Abdul Majeed.

The SSP said that the operation was supervised by him along with Rangers’ wing commander.

It was a targeted intelligence-based action carried out with the help of information collected from people of the area. Several hideouts being used by the outlaws were demolished during the operation, he said.

The SSP said that the freed men and boy were handed over to their respective close relations.

Published in Dawn, May 14th, 2025