KARACHI - Panic gripped the area when an unidentified person made a hoax call to the bank staff about presence of a bomb in the bank building on Friday.
Extra contingents of law enforcers immediately reached the site and evacuated the multi-storey commercial building Hussain Centre. Experts from the bomb disposal squad were also called to the site to search the building.
“An unidentified man called the local bank situated at a multi-storey building on Shahrah-e Faisal near Baloch Colony and informed the staff that a bomb was going to explode soon in the bank building,” said Tipu Sultan Police Station SHO Pervez Bhutto. “This happened at a time when most of the people had left the building for Friday prayers. The remaining people were evacuated after the call,” he said. The Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) team thoroughly searched the building. However, it turned out to be a hoax call.
BUS THEFT TRIGGERS ALARM
Law enforcement agencies were running after a funeral bus of a welfare organisation that was stolen on Friday. Unidentified culprits stole a funeral bus of Amini Foundation from Liaquatabad in the limits of Super Market Police Station. This caused panic, particularly among law enforcers. But before the law enforcers could trace and arrest the culprits, they left the bus in the SITE area a few hours after it was stolen. SHO Ejaz Lodhi said the bus was parked near the residence of one of the officials of the foundation in Liaquatabad, adding that the official had informed the police after he did not find the bus parked near his residence early in the morning.
The officer said that this was the first such incident to have occurred in the city. He said that in the past the city had however witnessed snatching and stealing of ambulances and government vehicles. “As the country is facing a new wave of terrorism, we feared the bus could be used in a terror attack,” said the officer. The officer said that different police teams were formed to recover the bus and arrest the suspects. However, the thieves left the vehicle in the SITE area. The officer said they were investigating the incident to ascertain the motive for the bus theft. A case had been registered against unidentified persons and further investigation was under way.
HEROIN SEIZED FROM
PASSENGERS AT AIRPORT
The Pakistan Customs on Friday claimed to have foiled a smuggling bid from Karachi to abroad by arresting two passengers.
According to a Customs spokesperson, staff of the customs posted at the Jinnah International Airport intercepted two passengers, Imran and Majid, at the international departure terminal. Both these passengers were flying to Colombo by Air Lanka flight number 1184. The officials recovered one kilogram high quality heroin from compartments of a suit case during a search.
The heroin was worth Rs10 million in the international market. Both accused were arrested on the spot. A case was registered and an investigation was under way.