Gunmen kidnap two Chinese nationals from Quetta
- By Web Desk -
- May 24, 2017
QUETTA: Two Chinese nationals among three people were abducted by unidentified armed kidnappers from Jinnah Town here, ARY News reported Wednesday.
“A Chinese couple was kidnapped from the neighbourhood of Jinnah town in Quetta today, the couple were running a Chinese language centre,” senior local police official Aitzaz Goraya told AFP.
“When they left the language centre for lunch, they were dragged into a vehicle without number plates by three unknown men,” he said. The men then began firing weapons in the air to scare off onlookers.
One Chinese woman managed to escape and ran back to the centre, while a passer-by received a gunshot wound.
According to eye witnesses’, four unidentified armed men in a silver car dragged the abductees into car on gun point. A security guard was also injured in firing by the kidnappers when he attempted to interrupt them.
No group has claimed the responsibility of kidnapping the foreign nationals so far.
Frontier Corps (FC) Balochistan have beefed up security in the city while increasing patrolling and checking at its check posts along Quetta RCD Highway.
It is worth mentioning here that various Chinese projects under China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) are underway in the province including Gwadar sea port.
Chinese state media confirmed the kidnappings, while deputy chief of mission in Islamabad Lijian Zhao said the embassy was working toward their release.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police couple of months ago had forwarded a summary to its chief minister calling for formation of a new force to protect Chinese nationals in the country.
The summary, sent by the KP police, stated that in the new force unit, 4,180 officials of different ranks should be inducted.
According to the document, the total cost of the project would be more than Rs 2 billion.
Several Chinese nationals are working on development projects across Pakistan. CPEC is a bilateral venture of both the neighbouring countries, under which China will invest $46 billion in Pakistan.