Highway robbery: Gunmen loot several cars on Islamabad-Lahore Motorway

ISLAMABAD: Unidentified armed robbers on Thursday looted several vehicles on the Lahore-Islamabad Motorway near Sheikupura and fled, in what appears to be yet another incident on a major highway where authorities seemed to have failed to respond on time.

Reports indicated that an unidentified number of the armed robbers blocked the highway by throwing trees on the road and looted the passengers.

The robbers also fired upon the vehicles to burst tyres to stop them.

The incident took place three kilometres away from the Sheikhupura Interchange on the M-2 Motorway toward Islamabad.

The passengers have complained that they approached Motorway Police on the emergency number but did not get any response; however, police reached the crime scene after emergency calls were made to 15.

‘Wearing uniform similar to Elite Force’

An eyewitness told Geo News that the incident took place between Hiran Minar and Sheikhupura.

The eyewitness, an ambulance driver, said he saw almost 20 cars halted midway on the road and hooted the siren in an attempt to scare the robbers, who, assuming it was police, fled.

The ambulance driver confirmed that the dacoits had thrown trees on the Lahore-Islamabad Motorway to stop the vehicles and had fired on their tyres with Kalashnikov rifles.

They were garbed in a uniform similar to that of the Punjab Police's Elite Force, he said, adding that he honked the siren as the robbers were looting a motorist from Skardu.

—Additional reporting by Arshad Waheed Chaudhry in Islamabad