wah cantt - There is no let-up in cases of crimes in the heavily guarded garrison cities of Taxila and Wah despite the tall claims of police pertaining to tightening noose around dacoits and burglars.

   Criminals are on the loose in various urban and rural areas of Taxila town as the residential and commercial areas under Taxila and Wah Police station have witnessed an alarming increase in street crimes during last couple of weeks. Four armed bandits carrying pistols looted a pizza shop located on GT road in limits of Wah Saddar Police station. Shahid Saleem reported to police that four armed persons in guise of customers entered his pizza shop and made hostage all the customers and staff hostage on gun point. Later they searched each person and took away cash, six mobile phones and other valuables. In same police station limits, two armed robbers intercepted Mohammad Arsalan and took away his motorcycle, cash and cell phone.

Earlier two armed bandits made hostage staff of a flour mill and deprived them of cash, laptop and cell phone. Despite the fact that local police officials almost five days ago claimed to bust an inter district gang of motorcycle thieves and arrested two members of the racket besides recovery of five stolen motorcycles, two motorcycles were stolen from different parts of the city on Sunday. Mohammad Owais’s motorcycle was stolen from Anwar chowk, Mohammad Bilal motorcycle from Lalarukh, Mohammad Faisal and   Mohammad Iftikhar motorcycle was stolen from Wah Cantonment Police station.

A man identified as Nazeer was looted by two armed bandits when he was waiting for public transport on GT road in Taxila while a woman identified as Tabasum who was waiting to board a rickshaw on GT road near New City phase II was deprived of her purse, cash and cell phone.

Police also failed to resolve two dacoites in Taxila and Wah where shopkeepers were shot and injured over resistance despite a lapse of two months. Police failed to track down a single robber in these cases despite availability of CCTV footage with clear images of their faces. Some inside Police sources said that old investigation staff of the area has been transferred to other districts before general elections and new staff failed to rein the crime. “The before polls transfer and postings in police and its internal issues are contributing to the rise in crime rate”, said official sources. Furthermore, they added that police manpower was busy in connection to election duties and given no attention towards crimes and dens.

Armed robberies have become order of the day as dacoits strike everyday in various parts of the city and deprive the masses of cash, gold ornaments and other valuables worth millions of rupees.