DERA GHAZI KHAN, Aug 15: Angry residents threw traffic on Dera–Quetta Road out of gear for at least five hour to protest the deteriorating law and order situation in Sakhi Sarwar Sharif, some 30kms from here, on Friday.

Reports said scores of dwellers also took out a rally against the surge in dacoity and motorcycle snatching incidents.

Protesters pelted stones on a police van and shattered its windscreen besides chanting slogans against the police.

They dispersed peacefully when SDPO Chaudhry Liaquat Ali negotiated them and ordered the transfer of the Sakhi Sarwer police SHO and the staff.

Protesters said that armed bandits had deprived a tobacco dealer, Haji Muhammad Ibrahim, of Rs1.2 million a few weeks back.

On June 21, another tobacco dealer and distributor of Sheikh Meraj Din & Company was also relieved of more than Rs0.5 million by robbers at a pistol point in a high security zone.

They said the Dera police had so far failed to find any clue to the culprits which created a sense of insecurity among the public, particularly the business community.