BAHAWALPUR: The Burewala Saddar Police claimed to have busted a honey-trap gang on Saturday and arrested four of the nine members of the gang.
DPO’s PRO Adnan Tariq told Dawn that the Burewala Sadder police swung into action on a tip-off that a local resident named Arsalan (23) was honey-trapped through a social media network.
He claimed that the girls on the pretext to meet Arsalan recorded his videos and started blackmailing him. He claimed the gang demanded Rs300,000 from the victim’s parents and also took Arsalan hostage.
He said the victim’s family approached Vehari DPO Tasswar Iqbal, who took serious notice and ordered the registration of a case and formed a special police team comprising Burewala Circle SDPO Rana Muhammad Imran Tipu and Burewala Saddar SHO to nab the suspects. He said the police team with the help of latest gadgets and geo-fencing traced the culprits and arrested four suspects including Sabir Hussain resident of village 337/EB, Farooq resident of village 351/EB, Aisha resident of 517/ EB and Asia resident of Gujranwala and freed Arsalan.
The PRO added that the honey-trap gang comprised nine members, whose five members were yet to be arrested. He claimed that the gang targeted youth on social media and trapped them to extort millions of rupees from them.
BODY FOUND: Rescue 1122 divers retrieved the body of four-year old Mehwish after four days of search in the canal in Ahmedpur East on Saturday.
According to the rescuers, Mehwish was playing on the bank of the Abu Dhabi canal at Iqbalabad near Uch Sharif when she drowned on March 11. The canal is fifteen to twenty feet deep and two hundred feet wide. The rescuers launched an operation and continued the search for her body for four days. The rescuers retrieved her body 22kms away from where she had drowned and handed it over to her parents.
The search was conducted by a team of 25 swimmers, divers and rescuers supported by searchlights and life boats.
Meanwhile, a nomad’s daughter Nadia Bibi (9) was electrocuted from a tubewell while playing in the fields at village 18/ FW near Hasilpur in Bahawalpur district.
Published in Dawn, March 15th, 2026