Rawalpindi - Three armed dacoits stormed a hotel on Sixth Road and snatched more than 17 mobile phones and wallets containing cash from the customers who were sitting there for tea and breakfast, official sources disclosed to The Nation on Thursday. The heist of dacoity took place within limits of Police Station (PS) New Town, while Rawalpindi police and its bosses were completely unaware about the dacoity, sources added. The incident has also exposed the poor performance of the Dolphin Force. A police spokesman stated that no victim of dacoity had approached the police for legal action, however, police is looking for the fleeing dacoits after obtaining CCTV footage from the crime scene.

According to sources, a gang of three dacoits armed with pistols arrived at the Quetta hotel, located on Sixth Road where two of them took the hotel staff and 17 customer’s hostage on gunpoint while the third dacoit stood outside the hotel for cover.

The dacoits collected more than 17 mobile phones and wallets containing cash worth thousands of rupees and fled the scene on motorcycles. Advocate Raja Kamran the owner of the plaza where the hotel was located, when contacted by The Nation, said this was the second time that a gang of dacoits targeted the hotel and fled from the scene after robbing mobile phones and cash from the customers. He said that the same gang had walked in the hotel earlier and looted the customers besides resorting to aerial firing to terrify the people.

He said the gang has been operating in the area since a couple of months but police has failed in tracing the gang.  A spokesman of Rawalpindi Police issued a statement in which he claimed that the incident took place one month ago in the area of PS New Town but no one approached the police. He added that the pictures of the culprits have been sent to relevant police stations for further investigation.

Meanwhile, the car of a Pakistan Army officer was pilfered by an unknown auto-theft gang from the parking of district courts. The victim had approached Police Station (PS) Civil Line for legal action against the car-lifters. Earlier, the auto-theft gang had also stolen a car of Advocate Raja Junaid from the same locality but police have failed to trace the car jackers.