Police stage attack on prisoner van transporting PTI members, claims Sheikh Waqas

LAHORE: The politician affiliated with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Sheikh Waqas Akram, alleged that a recent attack on prisoner transport vans was orchestrated by the Punjab police themselves, ARY News reported on Friday.

In a statement, the politician – Sheikh Waqas Akram – claimed that his party workers, who had been granted bail, were being transferred to District Jail Attock when police diverted the vehicles near Faisal Town.

Akram accused the police of breaking the van’s glass themselves, staging the incident.

“Our workers were even told to run away, but they refused, showing they were not prepared to escape,” said Akram.

The politician added that the PTI members who already got bail from the court are now facing arrest in a separate case ‘plotted’ by the police.

It is pertinent to mention here that some unidentified gunmen attacked jail vans on Sangjani Toll Plaza, freeing multiple prisoners belonging to the PTI facing terrorism charges.

Police claimed that the attackers also shattered the windows of two vans carrying around 100 prisoners mostly from Attock Jail.

The law enforcers added that several high-profile PTI prisoners managed to escape.

Inspector General of Police (IGP) Syed Ali Nasir Rizvi said that 18 to 20 assailants including a Khyber Pakhtunkhwa MPA’s son attacked three prisoner vans carrying 82 incarcerated persons.