FAISALABAD, July 5: Police have failed to arrest five under-trial accused who escaped from the Sadar police station lock-up on June 28. Among the absconders also includes the alleged killer of a cab driver who was killed in a Tandlianwala mosque compound.

Those at large are Rab Nawaz, Muhammad Iqbal, Muhammad Fayyaz, Atif and Haq Nawaz. The accused were arrested for murder, kidnapping for ransom and dacoities and detained at the Sadar police station.

Police say they fled by breaking the wall of the lock-up.

Operations Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Muhammad Aslam Tareen suspended station house officer (SHO) Ghazanfar Gujjar, Muhammad Arshad, Iqbal, Arif Husain, Javed Iqbal, Liaqat Ali, Sharif and Shaukat, all officials of the Sadar police station, on the charge of dereliction of duty.

A senior officer of the police department requesting anonymity said it was hard to believe the accused could break the 18-inch wide wall of the lock-up in the presence of the police officials.

The former SHO and duty officer of the Sadar police station were still at large, while remaining officials were sent on a judicial remand without any interrogation. The DIG gave a one-week deadline to arrest the criminals on June 28, but no arrest was made till filing of this report.

Sadar SHO Zafar Owra told Dawn they were after the criminals.