Assistant commissioner abducted in Kech

QUETTA: Unidentified armed men abducted Tump Assistant Commissioner Mohammad Hanif Noorzai from Balochistan’s Kech district on Wednesday morning, officials confirmed.

Kech Deputy Commissioner Major (retd) Bashir Ahmed told the media that AC Noorzai was kidnapped while traveling from Tump to Quetta during the Eid holidays. Noorzai was posted in Tump, a tehsil bordering Iran, and had been serving there for the past one and a half years.

According to the Kech DC, the assistant commissioner was traveling with his wife, a security guard and his driver when some armed men intercepted their vehicle in the Tigranabad area. The attackers forcibly removed the passengers except Noorzai, whom they dragged away in front of his wife. The assailants also searched her handbag before fleeing the scene.

“This act of dragging the assistant commissioner away in front of his wife and treating him disrespectfully is a violation of Baloch cultural and social values,” said the DC during a press conference in Turbat, the district headquarters.

He emphasised that Noorzai was not involved in any security operation and had merely been fulfilling his administrative duties in Tump. “All efforts are underway to ensure his safe recovery. We are also reaching out to tribal elders for assistance in the matter,” he added.

According to the Levies, the site of the abduction is located approximately 40 kilometers from Turbat. Following the incident, the district administration, police, Levies, Frontier Corps (FC) and other security agencies rushed to the scene with heavy contingents and cordoned off the area to begin a search operation.