Trader’s kidnapping protested

NOWSHERA: The residents and traders on Tuesday staged a protest after a trader was kidnapped in broad daylight.

One Farzand Ali told the police that president of Anjuman-i-Tajran Bara Market and an Afghan national, Ghulam Rasool, along with his brother Rauf and an accomplice Matiullah kidnapped his son Nadeem for ransom.

He alleged that Ghulam Rasool had earlier kidnapped his other son and set him free after he paid the ransom money.

The dwellers of Pirpiai and local traders staged a protest against the incident and gathered in front of the Cantonment Police Station.

They were chanting slogans against the incident and local police for failure to control kidnapping incidents in the area.

District Councillor Shaukat Nazir, tehsil councillor Iqbal Khan and other trade leaders were leading the protesters.

The charged protesters demanded arrest of the accused involved in the kidnapping and threatened to torch the police station if they failed to recover the abducted trader.

The speakers accused the police of patronising the abductors and refusing to register a case.

They said that the police have turned a blind eye to drug business, extortion, kidnapping for ransom and others anti-social activities in the area.

However, District Police Officer Wahid Mehmood rejected the allegations saying the police had registered the case and arrested the accused nominated in the first information report.

However, the situation in the area remained tense as the protesters refused to leave the premises of the police station and demanding immediate recovery of the abducted trader.