DERA MURAD JAMALI: Police in Balochistan have arrested eight suspected highway robbers in a joint operation targeting criminal gangs preying on passengers along the Quetta-Sukkur highway and other areas of Nasirabad and Kachhi districts.
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The crackdown comes after a marked rise in highway robberies and vehicle snatching, prompting Balochistan Inspector General of Police Muhammad Tahir to direct the deputy inspector general of the Nasirabad range to take immediate action.
Acting on intelligence reports, senior police officers including the SSPs of Nasirabad and Kachhi coordinated raids with a heavy contingent of personnel. Multiple hideouts across villages suspected of sheltering the criminal gang were raided.
During the operation, the armed suspects attempted to flee, but eight individuals were apprehended and taken into custody for interrogation. Police officials confirmed that the gang had been involved in looting passenger buses and other vehicles, and their arrests are expected to curb the rising crime along the busy highway.
“The hideouts of the dacoits were destroyed and set on fire in the area,” said the Nasirabad SSP, stressing that the operation was part of a broader effort to eliminate gangs and other criminal elements in the province.
Authorities have vowed that police operations against highway robberies will continue until the network of criminal gangs in the region is dismantled. The arrests have been welcomed by local residents, who have long complained about insecurity on the highway, which connects key districts in Balochistan and is a lifeline for trade and travel in the region.
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The Balochistan police have urged the public to cooperate with law enforcement agencies by reporting suspicious activities, emphasizing that intelligence-led policing is crucial to tackling organized crime in the province.