Robbers loot Rs8.5m in two strikes

Published September 24, 2006

LAHORE, Sept 23: Robbers looted over Rs8.5 million in two incidents in the city on Saturday. Six armed men forced their entry into a garments shop of Haji Muhammad Ishaq near D-Point Plaza in Rang Mahal, held the people on gunpoint and escaped after looting cash worth over Rs5 million.

Police have registered a case on the complaint of Haji Ishaq.

Rang Mahal SPO Asghar Ali told Dawn that the owner of Ashraf Garments was not sure about the exact loss, as according to him, the robbers took away two bags full of cash and he had counted only Rs5 million till then.

Meanwhile, two unidentified dacoits deprived an accountant of a construction company of Rs3.5 million in cash in Qila Gujjar Singh.

Akhtar of Husain construction company, withdrew the cash from Al-Baraka Bank, Race Course, and was on way to Faysal Bank, The Mall, on a bike along with his colleague Ehsaan Ali.

They were intercepted by two robbers riding a bike near Faysal Bank. They made off with the cash.

Qila Gujar Singh police have registered a case on the complaint of company’s finance manager Zulfikar Ahmed.

According to a Lahore police spokesman, Capital City Police Chief Khwaja Khalid Farooq has constituted two special teams to arrest the culprits.

Police claimed to have arrested a suspect while a sketch of robbers had been issued, the spokesman added.