GUJRAT: Three cousins belonging to Dinga area have been kidnapped for ransom after they were trapped by a gang operating in Kashmore district of Sindh.

The family received a demand of Rs40 million ransom for the safe release of the three. One of the kidnapped, it is learnt, has been murdered by the suspects as per the video sent to the heirs.

Police said Bilal Ahmed, Imtiaz Ahmed and Bilal alias Iqbal, in their 30s, had gone to Kashmore from Amra Kalan village on Jan 22 after they spotted a ‘cheap’ deal of a van on an auto-sales website.

Police said some relatives had warned them against traveling to this part of Sindh but they did not care.

The family received phone calls from the captors who demanded ransom. The last video family received on Feb 5 suggested the outlaws had shot Bilal Ahmed with a pistol. Later, they halved the ransom demand.

A spokesman for Gujrat police said the Kashmore police had been contacted by the Gujrat police and now a formal request for legal proceedings was being sent to the provincial home department.

These gangs operate in the katcha areas along the Punjab-Sindh border. Several operations in the past had failed to achieve desired results as the outlaws resurface with a few months of the operation.

The Rahim Yar Khan police have set up posts ahead of Sindh border where commuters are asked about their travel destination and purpose of visit.

The initiative has helped police save a number of people during the last couple of months.

Published in Dawn, February 17th, 2024