LAKKI MARWAT: Police claimed to have busted a gang of robbers, arresting five, including their kingpin, in Lakki city here the other day.

DPO Syed Khalid Hamdani had received information that a gang of bandits known as `Janbaz group` involved in robbery incidents and wanted by Bannu police had entered the district to commit crimes, said an official, adding SHO Lakki Imran Aslam was tasked with ensuring arrest of the wanted men.

A police party barricaded road in Shaheed Abid Ali Chowk and started searching vehicles, the of ficial said, adding the cops stopped a suspected car coming from Bannu side and asked the men onboard to prove their identity.

He said police with the help of criminal record verification SIM learnt that they belonged to a notorious robbers` gang. He added that police arrested the men including ringleader Janbaz, Sahib Zareen, Shah Zeb, Shaista and Shaukat, all belonging to Bannu district.

The official said policeregistered a case against the arrested men and began investigation.

Separately, the same police partyraidedaplacein Mela Mandrakhel village where firing in the air was going on during a musical concert in connection with a wedding ceremony, said a police official, adding police captured 21 villagers and recovered an AK 47 assault rifle, three pistols and a good number of bullets from them. The law enforcers also seized musical equipment and registered a case against the arrested men in Lakki Marwat police station, he added.

Also in the day, a party of Tajori police station arrested a drug trafñcker near Khankhel Mandazai village bordering the frontier region.

`The arrested man -Ghani Rehman -was trying to smuggle narcotics into the settled areas from the tribal region, claimed a police official, saying the cops seized 10kg opium, two rifles, spare magazines and bullets from him and registered a case against him in Tajori police station.Correspondent