CHAKWAL, Dec 8: Highwaymen looted commuters after blocking the Chakwal-Talagang Road in the early hours of Thursday morning, the victims and sources told Dawn .

The 'stage of loot' was set near Pirnara Mor in the jurisdiction of Saddar police station where a gang of robbers blocked the road with stones and fallen tree-trunks. They kept on looting the commuters for more than two hours. The police personnel on patrolling duty could not even get the wind of the incident. Most of the looted drivers were those going to get the Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) for their public transport vehicles from the filling stations in Talagang.

“I left for Talagang to get CNG for my vehicle at about 4am but when I reached Pirnara Mor I saw nearly a dozen vehicles standing at the road. No sooner had I stopped my vehicle than three armed robbers attacked me and snatched thirteen thousands rupees in cash and a mobile phone from me”, said Ansar Mehmood a resident of Bharpur village. He added that there were eight to ten highwaymen who were looting the commuters.

Meanwhile police started efforts to trace the robbers after registering a case. “We arrested a notorious gang called “Taji Gang” few weeks ago which was involved in over twenty-three armed robberies”, Station House Officer Saddar Police Station Ch Salim Akhtar told Dawn . He feared that the new gang was having local youngsters who had resorted to criminal activities. “We would arrest them soon”, he vowed. — Correspondent