ISLAMABAD: Two cloth merchants were kidnapped by armed persons and robbed of over Rs7 million, police said on Saturday.

A gang of five dacoits abducted the two cloth merchants - a man and his son - along with their drivers and roamed around in the twin cities for hours. Later, they took them to the motorway, and after looting the cash, set them free.

A case has been registered at the Kirpa police station under sections 395 (punishment for dacoity) and 365 (kidnapping or abducting with intent secretly and wrongfully to confine person) of the Pakistan Penal Code in response to a complaint lodged by Bilal Saeed, a resident of Gujranwala.

Sources in the police told Dawn that Bilal Saeed, a cloth merchant, used to come to the twin cities for recovery of amount from those who deal with him in cloth twice a month. He, along with his father Mohammad Saeed, brother Hamza Saeed and driver Mohammad Ashraf came to Rawalpindi in a Hyundai Elantra for the recovery of amount from different shopkeepers.

Hamza Saeed left for PWD Housing Society for recovery of the dues. Bilal and his father collected Rs7.6 million cash from shopkeepers in other areas and put the amount in a bag and kept it in the trunk of their vehicle and moved to PWD to pick up Hamza.

A Prius bearing a green registration plate appeared in front of their vehicle near nurseries when they entered the Expressway after picking Hamza and forced them to stop.

In the meantime, a Toyota Corolla, also bearing a green registration plate, pulled up from the rear and blocked their vehicle.

Three persons armed with Kalashnikovs disembarked from the Prius and approached them. The gunmen introduced themselves as government officials and dragged Bilal Saeed and the driver out of their car’s front seats and bundled them into the rear seat along with Mohammad Saeed.

Two gunmen also sat with them in the back seat, while the other gunman sat in the driving seat. The gunmen also took their mobile phones along with the cash they had in their wallets.

They switched off the mobile phones, and after making them hostages, the gunmen drove away in the Hyundai Elantra, while the other two vehicles - Prius and Toyota - followed it.

The gunmen sitting in the rear seat also started beating Bilal and his father and demanded they hand over the cash they had received from the shopkeepers.

The three vehicles roamed on the roads of Rawalpindi and Islamabad for three hours, and the gunmen kept beating them and demanding the amount. Later, they moved to Peshawar Motorway, and after 15 kilometres from the first resting area, they stopped the vehicles.

Later, they talked to someone on the phone and then opened the trunk of the Hyundai Elantra and took the bag containing the cash.

The gunmen pulled the victims out of the Hyundai Elantra and bundled them into the Prius, while keeping the bag of cash in the Toyota. Later, they moved from there, leaving behind the Hyundai Elantra.

After covering a distance of two kilometres, the gunmen disembarked them from the Prius and escaped towards Peshawar. The victims somehow managed to make an emergency call to the National Highways and Motorway Police and informed them about the incident.

Published in Dawn, January 18th, 2026