DADU, Dec 15: Thirty people were rounded up in a crackdown against bandits launched in the Kutcha area of the district on Monday by the police of six districts and rangers to recover four kidnapped men.

Some weapons were recovered from the possession of some of those arrested, the police said but did not offer any detail.

The DPO, investigation, Dadu, Tipu Sultan, told this correspondent that the arrests were made during a search operation in the Kutcha area of Jhallo, Budhapur, Mahi Otho, Unarpur, New Goth.

He said that the police were interrogating the arrested persons at different places.

Declining to disclose the names of the arrested suspects, he said that if any one of them was found innocent during the interrogation, he would be set free.

The, DPO operation, Dadu, Ali Akbar Bangwar, said that the police had surrounded the hideouts of bandits in the Kutcha area and sealed secrete routes leading to other districts.

He hoped that the kidnapped men would be recovered and two gangs of bandits would be arrested during the search.

The decision to launch the crackdown was taken by the Dadu police to arrest a two gangs of bandits, each comprising seven members and led by Sajo Jiskani and Gul Hassan Junejo.

The gang had kidnapped Mukhtiarkar Khadim Hussain Kutrio, PTCL supervisor Rasool Bukhsh Shaikh, Rafique Ahmed Shaikh and Vijay Kumar from a Larkana- bound coach on Dadu-Larkana part of the Indus Highway two days ago and fled towards the Kutcha area.

The Dadu police have deployed more than 2,000 police personnel in the Kutcha area and started search along both sides of the Indus river with the help of the Naushahro Feroze, Nawabshah, Larkana, Khairpur and Nawabshah police.

However, no kidnapped person was recovered till the filing of this report.

DEMO: Activists of political parties staged a demonstration outside local press club here on Saturday to protest against artificial shortage of wheat and flour price hike.

The demonstrators accused district food officials of creating artificial shortage of wheat in the district.

They alleged that officials had sold fine quality wheat to influential traders and flour mill owners of Karachi allegedly after being bribed.