Five abducted passengers released; residents block Indus Highway in Dera to demand recovery
DI KHAN:
At least 17 sugar mill workers remained missing after unidentified armed men abducted passengers and workers from a passenger coach and a sugar mill bus near Cheera Minor on the Indus Highway in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s Dera Ismail Khan, while several passengers have been released.
According to reports, the incident occurred on the night between Tuesday and Wednesday within the jurisdiction of Paroa Police Station. Armed men intercepted a coach travelling from Dera Ghazi Khan to Rawalpindi and took several passengers away. Reports also emerged that security guards travelling in a sugar mill bus were abducted.
Sources said five passengers identified as Arsalan, Majid, Kashif, Shiraz and Hammad, who had been taken from the Hassan Coach, were subsequently released. According to the released passengers, they walked for approximately four hours to reach their destination.
Read: Armed men abduct 20 trainee police personnel travelling from Kalat to Nushki: officials
However, 17 workers of the sugar mills remained missing, prompting residents to take to the streets and block traffic on the Indus Highway in protest.
Residents staged a protest at Paroa Adda, blocking the main Indus Highway to demand the safe recovery of the missing workers.
Police said an operation was underway to recover the abducted persons and that several teams had been formed for the purpose.
The incident has triggered fear and panic in the area, while the families of the missing workers remain deeply distressed over the fate of their loved ones.
