MANSEHRA: District police officer Mansehra Ihsan Saifullah on Tuesday suspended two Elite Force personnel for torturing a local trader and ordered an inquiry against them.

Mansehra police official Jamal Zeb told reporters here that the action had been tal(en against the policemen after news channels telecast the footage of Ibrar Shah kicking and punching Musharraf Iqbal in Dub area of Mansehra city before Iftar over the car parking issue.

He said the DPO had suspended Ibrar Shah as well as Waqar Shah, who was on duty with him, and tasked ASP Sonia Shimroz Khan with probing the incident. `The DPO is very much annoyed by the incident,` he said.

Earlier in the day, president of the central traders body Hafiz Ijaz and other office-bearers met the DPO and demanded strict action against the policemen over the trader`s torture.

PICKPOCKETS HELD: The Shinkiari police have arrested eight pickpockets and seized stolen money, vehicles and cellphones.

Deputy superintendent of police, Shinklari, Nazir Khan told reporters here on Tuesday that the arrested men, who were part of an interprovincial gang, had reached the city to pickpocket on Eidul Fitr and that they`d confessed to committing two such acts in Shinkiari.

He said the arrests of Bakhtawar, Mohammad Hayat, Azmatullah, Mohammad Islam, Mohammad Zafar, Munawar Khan, Ziaullah and Mohammad Afzal were made near Khanpur area on a tip-off after the police stopped their car.

`We have recovered two stolen cars, Rs17,000 cash and cellphones from the possession of arrested pickpockets,` he said.

The DSP said the gang operated in parts of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

He said the police expected that the arrested men would reveal key information about robberies and car theft during interrogation.Correspondent