Two suspects escape from Landikotal lock-up

LANDIKOTAL: Two prisoners mysteriously escaped from Landikotal lock-up Thursday night, official sources said on Friday.

Two Afghan nationals, identified as Fayyaz Marufkhel and Khalid Wafadar, had been detained at the Torkham border crossing four days ago. An official, on the condition of anonymity, told this scribe that on the directives of Islamabad Police, they had arrested the two Afghan citizens and handed them over to Landikotal police for further investigation. He said those arrested were wanted by the Islamabad Police in several cases, including a robbery at the home of a senior official in the federal capital.

Both the Afghan nationals escaped from the Landikotal lock-up through a hole of an exhaust fan Thursday night. District Police Officer Muhammad Iqbal constituted a team to probe the matter. The team led by Inspector Abid Afridi started the search to trace the runaway prisoners. He told media that they would complete the investigation within a week and those behind the incident would be brought to justice. This scribe made several phone calls to Landikotal jail superintendent Akhtar Shah but he neither took the calls nor responded to a text message.

ARMS SEIZED: Torkham authorities foiled a bid to smuggle a huge quantity of arms from Afghanistan, the official said. Mir Zaman from the Pakistan Customs at Torkham border crossing told this scribe by phone that a truck that had crossed the border was searched and foreign guns were recovered from it. He said the worth of the seized arms is around Rs5 million in the open market. The official said the empty truck (KBL-3865) was also taken into custody and investigation launched.