**KHANEWAL: ** A group of swindlers robbed eighteen passengers of the Super Express train on Wednesday after drugging them.
According to railway officials, the robbers posed as Hajis, who had recently returned from Makkah. “They began to distribute dates and Zam Zam water bottles among the passengers of one of the rail boxes,” said railway guard Suleman. He said that when the train docked and officials began to check for luggage they found an entire rail car filled with unconscious passengers. “They had all been drugged and robbed,” he said. Railway officials said that they sent the passengers to the Khanewal DHQ Hospital for treatment.
A total of 60 railway passengers were robbed during the past one week and others have said that they suspect the same gang of robbers for all the incidents. “All of the robberies involved large groups of people who had been poisoned,” ticket collector Kareem said.
The passengers, who came to their senses several hours after the incident said that the Railway Police had been negligent in properly checking all the people on board the train. “These men were not checked properly. We later found out that one of them had a gun. This reflects sheer negligence on part of the administration,” said Zainab Bibi, a passenger.
According to the passengers, the robbers escaped with over Rs120,000 and 13 tolas of gold.
“This is the fourth of such robberies in a week and the authorities have not taken any action,” said Muhammad Zain, adding “We never thought that someone would drug us while offering us khajoors and posing as Hajis. This is a new low.”
“We reported the incident immediately but the authorities didn’t pay any attention to the problem” said passenger from Multan, Momina.
The affected passengers were treated at the DHQ hospital. The attending in-charge Dr Shafi said that the passengers had all been administered a strong sedative.
“The food they had was poisoned and the water was tainted. They recovered after a few hours but one of the patients is in serious condition and has developed a stomach infection,” he said.
“We are tightening security at the railway stations but there aren’t enough funds to do this properly,” said a railway guard Pasha. “I personally monitor every train with several ticket collectors but it is impossible to weed out such passengers,” he said.
“The claim that one of the robbers had a gun is completely false. No one would be able to board the train with a gun because everyone undergoes a security check,” he said.
Passengers, on the other hand, said that security at the railway station as well as aboard the trains was virtually non-existent. “No one checked anything. One police woman grabbed my hand bag and shook it a little and then let me in. That was the only security measure in place and no wonder such robberies are becoming routine,” said Momina.
There were two groups of people......posing as 2 families...... in the middle of the road...they started fighting with each other......as usual.....the bus passenger mediated.....the issue was that they were two families going for some marriage or something......and ther was disagreement over some issue....so hearing both sides the passengers offered mediation..and after some time..both parties agreed.......
It was a happy occasion......guess what we like to do in such cases?
yes....Mithaai......they distributed the 'flavoured' mithaai like the khajoor and zam zam above... to all the people in the bus......and the rest as they say...is history :D
wow....robbers are getting creative.
interesting fact is everyone in that rail dabba ate those dates, and drink that water.
ironically, we warn kids to not to take anything from strangers, but when it comes to grown ups they gladly accept em.
lol. i remember once i was strolling around downtown Manhattan with my mom and cousin and someone gave us 2 small bottles to all three of us. we took it but i had this strange feeling, and when the ladies with me were opening it i asked them it seems like some kinda drug. so instead of throwing it in the garbage we first drain the solution and then threw away the empty bottles. dont want junkies to be drugged and addicted. (i know i should have thought of fish but but but...)
**there have been so many cases on Indian Railways in the past that now they announce every 10 minutes or so warning people NEVER to accept food from any fellow traveler and NOT to leave your own food unattended.
one of my relative was robbed in the FIRST class coach. there are 4 berths in a cabin...he was traveling with his wife. there was another couple in the cabin. it was like 24 hour train journey from Bombay to Lucknow. They developed friendship and they gave miThaaii to my cousin and his wife after dinner. this miThaaii was laced with drug and they went to sleep. when they woke up, the other couple was long gone with all their possessions. They were bringing shaadii ke kapRe and zevaraat...they lost goods worth several lakh rupees. :(
The Railways Must now demand proper ID's at the time of bookings and at the time of boarding the train so they could be traced. it's a must for security reasons...i dunno when they gonna make it a rule.**
Bite into these dates,
Share 'em with your mates,
Have a sip of ZamZam,
Its just so Yum,
Don't be shy,
Give it a try,
After all I'm a Mullah,
I would never Foolya!
Hmmm the culprits should be most severly punished, in fact punished in such a way that nobody in thier mind would ever dare to it again… maybe crucifying them and leaving thier remains tied aside the Railway route for all to see over a couple of centuries should do the trick.
