Karachi:The seven policemen, including an Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI), who were kidnapped Sunday by “Chotu Dacoit” gang were recovered unhurt by the law enforcement agencies in the wee hours of Monday.
Earlier on Sunday, dacoits attacked a police checkpoint and snatched the cops in Kachcha area.
The cops were rescued after the long arm of the law reached the robbers before they could get away with the abductees.
According to sources, immediately after the audacious abduction, Sindh and Punjab police launched a sweeping joint operation in Ghotki, Kashmore, Rahim Yar Khan and other areas, which paid off.
It was also reported that several hideouts of dacoits have been destroyed in aerial strikes by helicopter gunships.
The incident happened Saturday night in the Much area of Sadiqabad in Punjab province.
“Around 40 dacoits attacked the checkpost and kidnapped seven police officials,” the district police chief, Sohail Zafar Chattha, told AFP.
He said law enforcement agencies had driven bandits out of the area a few years ago but they started operating again recently, shuttling between Machh and the border towns of neighbouring Sindh province.
The outlaws recently killed a police officer in the town of Ghotki in Sindh.
A strong police contingent backed by armoured personnel carriers was mounting an operation to rescue the seven policemen, Chattha added.
Bandits have been active in the border areas of Sindh and Punjab provinces for decades.
The military launched a full-scale operation against them in Sindh in the early 1990s but they resurfaced after successive governments failed to maintain law and order in the province.
