Polio drama: 9 more arrested for attacking Peshawar hospital

PESHAWAR: Police have nabbed nine more suspects on Wednesday in connection with defaming anti-polio drive in the province.

According to details, a case was registered against 12 people for faking the illness and hospitalisation of schoolchildren in Mashokhel village and torching a hospital to create chaos and misinformation about the ongoing countrywide polio campaign.

Superintendent of Police (SP) Peshawar Sahibzada Sajjad said that the school principal’s brother was among the nine arrested for vandalizing the medical facility.

The suspects were arrested after being identified in videos of the incident. Two pistols and many Kalashnikovs were seized from their possession, the Peshawar SP added.

“A total 10 suspects have been arrested so far of which five have been nominated in the First Information Report (FIR). A case was registered against 12 people in total,” he stated.

Earlier on Tuesday, police arrested Nazar Muhammad, a resident of Peshawar’s Mashokhel area, who was seen employing children to prove that polio vaccines were defected. He administered children polio drops, following which he asked them to pretend to be fainted.

Peshawar was gripped in panic Monday morning as rumours spread like a wildfire that the anti-polio vaccine had caused children to fall ill and faint in several areas of the city.

It was reported that at least 700 schoolchildren fell sick after polio vaccination in Peshawar causing an attack on a hospital in city by an angry mob.