By Shahnawaz Khan

LAHORE: City police and other law enforcement agencies failed to find the five unidentified men who on Saturday threatened to blow up a public bus with remote controlled bombs, sources said on Sunday.

The city police have sealed all the exits and entry points of Lahore bus routes and the SSP has instructed police officers to focus their search on men with beards, said police sources.

Five unidentified men, who were reportedly carrying remote control bombs in bags, boarded a bus at the Civil Secretariat bus stop and threatened to blow it up on Saturday evening. Some passengers asked the bus conductor to check their bags, but two of the men grabbed a passenger, Muhammad Ahsan, and put a gun to his head. The other three men then revealed the bombs they were carrying and said they would detonate the bombs if the passengers did not cooperate. However, they instructed the driver to stop the bus at Chuburji Chowk and fled. Two of them ran towards Janazgah while the other three ran towards Multan Road. Aftab Ahmad Cheema, the senior superintendent of police (SSP), has ordered additional officers to help search for the men in Chuburgi Chowk area, sources said. Security forces thoroughly inspected bus passengers and also arrested some transport company officers including a driver and a bus conductor.

“We were following our senior’s orders,” said a police officer who asked not to be named, while referring to accusations that the police had treated people at Ravi Bridge area like ‘animals’.

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