Trucker arrested for transporting 35 from Lahore despite ban

HARIPUR: A truck driver was arrested for transporting 35 people, including women and children, from Lahore despite the suspension of inter-district and inter-provincial transport in view of the coronavirus threat.

According to head constable Shaukat Khan of Beer Police Station that acting on a tip-off, he stopped a truck (8379 MNN) near Soha village in the limits of Beer Union Council.

During the search, he said the cops recovered 12 women, 13 children and 10 men hiding under the tarpaulin in the truck.

He said that the persons belonging to Lassan Nawab Sahib village in Mansehra were relatives and had gone to Lahore when the government banned the inter-district and inter-province public transport.

Shaukat Khan said they had gone to Lahore to attend a wedding and were struck thereafter the suspension of public transport. He said that they called the truck driver identified as Jehanzeb hailing from the same village to bring them back.

The driver, according to police, huddled the 35 persons in his truck and managed to drive them to Soha village on Chappar Road.

The police said that the families were later sent home and the truck driver was arrested and a case was registered against him for illegally transporting 35 passengers, including women and children, from Lahore to Haripur.