LAKKI MARWAT, March 8: Unidentified gunmen kidnapped three Fata Sustainable Plains Development Programme officials and a Levies soldier in the frontier tribal region of Lakki on Wednesday night.

Sources said Jehanzeb, Awal Khan and Kachkol Khan guarded by Naseer Khan of Levies were in Ghundi Hasankhel area to inspect work on SPDP projects.

They said after the incident, the political administration began an operation in the area for safe recovery of captives and arrest of their kidnappers.

Also in the day, Lakki Marwat district police officer Gulzar Ali Khan directed local SDPOs and SHOs to speed up action against gamblers and drug traffickers.

During a meeting at his office, he said police were responsible for cracking down on criminals without discrimination and therefore, such actions should be initiated without delay.

The DPO said complaint boxes had been placed outside the district and sub-divisional police offices for early resolution of people's problems.

He urged police to keep a close liaison with elders and residents of their respective areas and said it would help restore public confidence in the force. It, he said, will also improve law and order situation in the area.