LARKANA, March 23 Kidnappers whisked away two employees of a rice mill in Bero Chandio near here on Monday.

The kidnappers sneaked into the Al-Mohammadi Rice Mills, overpowered Mashooq Bossan and Saleem Gopang, who were sleeping there, and kidnapped them.

Larkana DPO Irfan Baloch said the kidnapping was the outcome of a dispute between two groups of people belonging to Chandio and Bossan communities and not related to the kidnapping for ransom.

The Chandios were pressing Bossans (the mill owners) to purchase paddy at their desired rate but the Bossans had refused after which the Chandios had threatened them of dire consequences, the DPO said.

Haji Khushi Mohammed Bossan a resident of village 'Wada Bossan' has registered an FIR with Taluka police station against Jawed Chandio, Sadik Chandio, Tarique and four unidentified persons.

The villagers fired at police when they picked up a landlord, Sadik Chandio, from his 'autaq' on the outskirts of Bero Chandio and got him freed, sources said.

Jawed Chandio, main accused in the kidnapping case, had been arrested, the DPO said and expressed the hope about early recovery of the kidnapped men.

However, the relatives of the two kidnap victims feared that they could be killed by the kidnappers, the DPO said.

In another development, two kidnap victims, Faheem and Haroom Waggan, were recovered in a raid on Allah Bakhsh Mughairi village, the Qambar police said.

According to the police, they had rounded up over 40 people who were being grilled to extract information about the kidnapping.

The police surrounded the village on the information about the presence of the two kidnapped men. During the siege and search operation, police broke into the houses of Nazeer Brohi and Deedar Mughairi and recovered a snatched motorcycle and a Kalashnikov.

They also recovered the two kidnap victims from the village and rounded up over 40 people. They were being grilled at Qambar police station to extract more information, sources said.