THATTA, Feb 15: Eight bandits on Wednesday deprived passengers of a Daro-bound bus, mostly cattle traders, of cash and other valuable items worth hundreds of thousands of rupees near Jatoi Sim Nali on the Sujawal-Hyderabad road.

According to eyewitnesses, eight armed and masked robbers stormed a passenger bus (TA-5483), going from Karachi to Daro, as it slowed down to drop one of the passengers near the Jatoi Sim Nali.

The bandits, three of whom were armed with rifles while others were armed with pistols and daggers, commandeered the bus towards an unpaved track.

The passengers, mostly cattle traders carrying large sums after having sold their livestock in Karachi, were subjected to torture and humiliation by the bandits.

The bandits, eyewitnesses said, escaped with a large amount of cash and other valuable items.

After the incident, they said that the passengers of the bus drove straight to the Mirpur Bathoro police station, where SHO Qadir Dad Chang declined to register an FIR, saying that he would register it after verifying the facts.