GUJRANWALA, Sept 10: The Ghakhar Town market committee secretary was suspended from service after he was found benefiting traders and hoarders at the cost of buyers who were forced to purchase vegetables and fruits at exorbitant prices at the Ramazan bazaar.

District Coordination Officer Dr Pervaiz Akhtar, who paid surprise visits to Ramazan bazaars on Wednesday, also issued a show-cause notice to secretary Shahbaz Cheema when he found the rate list otherwise.

The DCO also warned that the shopkeepers involved in overcharging would be sent to jail for one month.

Before the advent of Ramazan, the district administration had directed the market committees to ensure selling of foodstuff and other necessary items at the official prices after appraising its auction prices on a daily basis.

ARRESTED: An FIA raiding party arrested a notorious human agent of Gujrat after a brief encounter here on Wednesday.

Inspector Rao Naserullah said the bungalow from where the accused was arrested was no less than a small fort where millions of rupees were spent on its construction.

Agency additional director Husain Asghar said human smuggler Talib Husain, who was running his monkey business with the help of his wife ‘A’ and son Rifaqat, made a fast buck by sending people to Greece.

Mr Asghar said the human smuggler’s wife, who died a few days back in Gujrat, was wanted to the agency in about 100 cases. He said Rifaqat, who is settled in Greece, had already been declared a proclaimed offender some five years back. He said agency was making its strategy to arrest him with the help of Interpol.

CONDEMNED: The Gujranwala Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) and other trade organisations on Wednesday protested the 31 per cent increase in electricity tariff.

They demanded of the president and the prime minister to withdraw the increase immediately because as it would break the backbone of the industry.

At a meeting held here, chamber president Riaz Ahmad Bajwa and other speakers said they were expecting that the newly-elected president would withdraw the notification of power tariff increase.

ESCAPES: An accused involved in a criminal case escaped from a local court when his interim bail was rejected here on Wednesday.

Reports said Ferozewala police had registered a case against accused Abdul Jabbar a few days ago, but he got an interim bail.

BUTCHERS HELD: Six butchers were arrested by a joint raiding team of the district administration and police for selling mutton at high prices and sent them to jail here on Wednesday.

Those arrested are Imran, Azam, Khurshid, Javed, Asghar and Gulzar.