Police claimed on Saturday to have arrested two robbers following a shoot out in the Dijkot area.
City Police Officer (CPO) Haidar Ashraf said the robbers had snatched a trailer truck loaded with cotton worth Rs6 million near Noor Shah Sahiwal. He said they forced the driver and conductor out of the truck on its way from Haroonabad to Chaudhary Zaheer Nagra at Faisalabad.
The crew informed Faisalabad police who used a tracker to locate the truck. When it entered Dijkot area, a police team consisting of SHO Muhammad Akhtar and Head Constable Zaheerul Hasan and Constables Fareed Ahmad, Zahid Hussain, Muhammad Asghar and Muhammad Younus signalled the trailer to stop near Dinga Phata Roshan Wala Bypass. Police said some men on the truck opened fire at the police party and the vehicle accelerated instead of stopping.
The police team chased the vehicle and the men were told to surrender but they again shot at the police. When the police returned their fire, one of the men was injured and the vehicle stopped. The police arrested two men and seized a Kalashnikov rifle. The injured man was taken to Divisional Headquarters Hospital where he has been declared out of danger.
One of the suspects indentified as Amanat son of Shehar Din Jatt of Mian Channu, told police that the cotton had been unloaded at the dera of Imran, son of Arshad Jatt in Chak No.205-RB Maloana.
Police raided the dera and recovered the cotton. They also arrested Nadeem, son of Younus Aarain resident of Chak 61-RB Maharan, and seized a Kalashnikov rifle from him.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 12th, 2014.