ABBOTTABAD, Dec 16: A total of 47 prisoners were released from the Abbottabad district jail by the authorities after their trial was conducted by the Civil Judge-I, Amjad Zia, and Civil Judge-II Abid Sarwar and EAC Latifur Rehman.

All the 47 prisoners, which included one woman, were booked by the police in minor cases and most of them had been languishing in the jail for more than one year. No one was either pursuing their cases nor were their chargesheets completed by the police.

It may be mentioned that on the directive of Chief Justice Peshawar High Court, necessary instructions were issued to district and sessions judges who deputed civil judges to conduct the trials at jail and after completion of legal formalities, these prisoners were released from jail on Saturday.

CAR-LIFTERS GANG BUSTED: The Abbottabad police have busted a gang of car-lifters and recovered a snatched vehicle from their possession.

Police said two members of the gang, Riaz and Shaukat hiked a taxi (MA-4086) for Nathiagali. On their way they injured the taxi driver, Saleem, threw him out at Bagnother, and tired to escape.

Police after being apprised of the incident set up checkpoints at all exit points and arrested both of them from Murree Chowk.

The injured driver was taken to Ayub Medical Complex Hospital, Abbottabad, in critical condition.

SENT TO JAIL: Judicial magistrate Abbottabad sent three dacoits to jail, whereas one was remanded to police custody for further interrogation.

All the four bandits allegedly snatched Rs460,000 from the accountant of a private college. The police have succeeded in recovering half of that amount. Two of bandits’ accomplices, Tariq and Masood are yet to be arrested.

Those arrested were identified as Haseeb Gul, Shafiq, Zahid alias Zaidi and Shahid. Shafeeq-ur-Rehman had been remanded for a week for further interrogation.

It may be mentioned that Zahid was arrested from Jamia Masjid Narian where he was sitting in “Aitekaf” and had hidden cash in the geysers and bathrooms of the Masjid.