SUKKUR, Sept 21: Hundreds of shopkeepers of Ghouspur and Kandhkot held a demonstration on Tuesday to protest against the excise police of Larkana for arresting a shopkeeper on the charge of illegal sale of liquor.

They said that the excise police had tried to kidnap the shopkeeper and demanded arrest of 16 excise officials, including two inspectors. Excise inspectors Qurban Shaikh and Razi Shahani with 14 subordinates raided the shop of Ashok Kumar in Ghouspur, seized two crates of liquor and arrested him.

This led to the protest demonstration and the allegation that the shop keeper had been kidnapped by armed people in the uniform of excise police. Receiving the information, police, on the instruction of the TPO of Kandhkot, arrested the excise police team from the Indus Highway and locked them up in a police station.

Police threatened the excise police of registering a kidnapping case against them and reportedly maltreated them though they had proved their identity. Later, the director of the excise police contacted the DPO of Jacobabad and apprised him of the situation.

The DPO intervened in the matter and police released the excise officials and handed over Kumar to them with the seized liquor.