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School van carrying 23 children hijacked
Karachi, Nov 09, 2007: A driver of a private school transportation service, situated in Gulistan-e-Jauhar, hijacked a school van on Thursday with 23 children onboard and made a call to one of the minor's parents threatening that the vehicle was full of explosives and he would not stop the van as he had to achieve his 'target.' However, law-enforcers foiled the kidnapping attempt, arrested the driver and were able to rescue the children. A case was lodged at the Airport police station.
On Thursday afternoon, at about 1pm, a private van driver, Imran alias Chandzaib, who operated his transportation business outside a Beacon House School, situated in Block-16, Gulistan-e-Jauhar, picked up the 23 children (ageing four to seven years) from the school as per routine.
After a few minutes of his picking up the children, the police received a call that a school van was hijacked in the airport police jurisdiction and that the suspect threatened to blow up the bus along with the children passengers. He demanded that the departure gate of the airport be opened. After receiving the information, a Shah Faisal Town police mobile and staff of the Airport Security Force (ASF) cordoned off the area. After a few minutes of the call, they spotted a school van, JE-6443, approaching the gate of Terminal-I.
The law-enforcers encircled the bus with their vehicles, caught the accused driver and released the children. The law-enforcers took the accused driver to their police station where he was identified as Imran alias Chandzaib.
CCPO Karachi, Azhar Ali Farooqi, said that, during investigations, it was revealed by the accused that he called Sarwar Jalal Khan, the father of a child present on the bus, Somiya Jalal Khan, and informed him that the bus was full of explosives and he would blow up the bus with the children. He demanded that he (Jalal Khan) ask his relative to open the gate of Terminal-I as he wanted to enter the airport.
Sarwat immediately informed his relative, Tanveer Alam, a director in the ASF, and also informed Madadgar-15. Within minutes, a heavy contingent of law-enforcers reached Terminal-I and cordoned off the area and also called the Bomb Disposal Squad. The bomb disposal squad found no explosives in the van.
CCPO Farooqi said that, "a joint interrogation team has been constituted in which some officers of the Anti-Violent Crime Unit are involved. The data of the accused's cell phone was also recovered and details were collected from Hazara Division, of which the accused was a permanent resident. In Karachi, he was residing in Gulistan-e-Jauhar. The Investigation team also took footage of the bus and interrogation is underway.
After the incident, all the family members immediately reached the spot and took their children while hiding their faces. The police present at the scene stopped the families from talking to newsmen present there. The parents said that they did not want to comment and said that they were happy that they recovered their children safe and sound.
A father of a child, who refused to give his name, said that the law-enforcers and school management should collect the data of the van drivers so that no such incident takes place in the future. —SBP
The names and classes of the children are as follows
NAME: CLASS:
Suman Zubair III A
Maryam Javed IC
Ayan Shuja I-A
Sumaiya Jalal Khan II-B
Mohammed Haroon II-A
Humair Khan III-A
Mohammed Ali I-B
Daniyal Binlary I-A
Jerusha Suresh I-A
Liaba Nisar I-B
Asadullah Khan I-C
Somia I-B
Kinza Saroosh III-A
Jalal Ahmed Siddiqi II-A
Maryam Khan I-B
Mohammed Noman II-A
Husnain Ayaz II-B
Saif Khan NSY-B, KG
Kabeer Ali Khan I-B
Mohammed Muzamil NSY-A, KG
Farya KG-B
Zubair Shahid NSY-B, KG
Fatima Ali Khan KG-A
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