Karachi football team robbed on Balochistan highway; gunmen snatch phones and cash
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Karachi football team robbed on Balochistan highway; gunmen snatch phones and cash")
Karachi football team robbed on Balochistan highway; gunmen snatch phones, cash Photograph: (Others)
A Karachi football team was robbed at gunpoint in Balochistan on their way to Quetta. Get full details on the incident, security warnings, and updates.
Logistical and security challenges continue to hit Pakistani sports. A day after the Pakistan men’s volleyball team arrived at the wrong location during the ongoing Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, delaying their match against Uzbekistan by 45 minutes, a Karachi football team was robbed at gunpoint on a highway in Pakistan’s Balochistan province. A football team was travelling from Karachi to Quetta to participate in the Chief Minister’s Gold Cup tournament when robbers snatched mobile phones and cash.
Per a PTI report, nearly a dozen armed men held the Karachi District West team’s bus between Mastung and Sariab, and took away all valuables. The incident took place on Monday evening, leaving the travelling squad without any money. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, the team manager, revealed that the armed men ordered all players to get off the bus before running away with their phones and cash.
"The armed men asked all the passengers to disembark from the bus and then took away all mobile phones, cash, and other valuables. They also butted some of the passengers,” he said.
Upon reaching their destination, Quetta, the Karachi team informed Balochistan’s sports minister about the mishap, after which the minister provided the players with daily allowances, the PTI report read. Meanwhile, Muhammad Azam, secretary of the Sindh Football Association, an affiliated unit of the Pakistan Football Federation, said that the team travelled despite official warnings against using road and rail routes to Quetta.
"We didn't send the Sindh team, and we advised all other clubs in Karachi to avoid going to Quetta by bus or train because of the security situation. The Karachi West team still went ahead, and what we feared happened," Muhammad Azam said.
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Azam continued, saying the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa football associations had also decided against sending their teams for the tournament. Moreover, this incident occurred just two days after two local cricketers were abducted from Dera Bugti.
The PTI report also suggests that the highway connecting Mastung district to Quetta has become a hotspot for armed groups targeting travellers.
