BAHAWALNAGAR: The wildlife officials arrested two wildlife traffickers at Faqirwali and recovered three nilgai calves and two parrots from them on Saturday.

District Wildlife Officer Munawar Hussain told Dawn that in a joint operation with patrol police, a wildlife team on a tip-off installed a picket near Chak 132/6R, Faqirwali.

The team arrested two wildlife traffickers, identified as Naem and Amir, residents of Chishtian, while trying to smuggle endangered animals and birds in a car. During the search, the teams found three nilgais calves and two parrots from the car`s boot.During interrogation, the suspects revealed that they had got the animals from Fort Abbas and were smuggling them to Lahore. They revealed that there were three more members of the gang from the Fort Abbas area.

The official said the animals and birds had been shifted to the Bahawalnagar Zoo while raids were being conducted to arrest the remaining accomplices of the animal traffickers.

CAUGHT: The citizens in Mandi Sadiq Ganj caught three robbers as they were fleeing after robbing a family in a car on Saturday noon.

According to locals, five armed robbers on two motorcycles robbed a family riding a car. The armedcitizens of the nearby areas started chasing them on motorcycles.

During the chase, there was an exchange of gunfire between the citizens and the robbers but the citizens managed to catch three of the suspects.

The citizens tortured the suspects before handing them over to police.

It is worth mentioning that daylight robberies have been on the rise in Mandi Sadiq Ganj for the last few days.On Sep 11, three armed men on a motorcycle had stopped a school van at about 2pm near village Rohana and fled after snatching mobile phones and cash from teachers and students. Soon after looting the van, the bandits set up a picket outside a nearby village and robbed several villagers.

In another incident, a man was shot dead by robbers while resisting a robbery in Mandi Sadiq Ganj.