Coll 30/9(2) 'Admin. Reports of the Persian Gulf - 1945 -' [‎145r] (289/1148)

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VII. SECURITY .
A general •tste of insecurity existed in the Province
throughout the greater portion of the year. Reports of hold
ups on the main roads were frequently received, »nd though the
Indian Long Range Squadron ©persted periodically on the Zahi-
\ dah -Kerman route, their presence did not discourage the
1 ®ctivities of the bandies as strongly ee-mlght have been ex-
1 pectbd. At the baginning of the year, the focal point was,
as in the previous year, mainly in the Sirjan area, where
Akb^r Khan Shujapur, the elder aon of Husain Khan Buchakchi, and
Muraa-Ali-Murad, another member of the Buchakchi tribe, and
hi» gang continued to abscond ana to raid travellers and
villages with impunity. Husain Khan, who had by this time
apparently made attempts to settle down peaceably, professed
to be doing everything in his power to control Akbar Khan
Shuj&pur's actions and to bring him in, together with Murad-
Ali-Murad. Sarly in the year, the military authorities issued
an ultimatum to Shugapur to the effect that if he did not
surrender within a given period, operation* against him would
commence. The period of the ultimatum was later extended
and finally expired, but Shujapur showed no signs of complying
with the order, nor were the promised operations set in motion.
In March, owever, Shujapur surrendered on his own accord
handed in his arms nd was reported to have settled down to
faraing with hi* father.
i'arad-A1 i-Murad, however was still at large. In
March, he wrote a letter to thi* Consulate asking for a
guarantee of laanunity and future employment if he would come
in ana surrender his arm*. He was advised to surrender, but
told that no guarantee could be given him. In the meantime,
he anu his gang became increasingly active and strong rumour*
circulated to the effect that he invariably managed to evade
capture by the payment of large *um» of money iiTbribe# to
0 -.iicers ot the Gendarmerie, whose connivance in brigandry
became a public scandal. Sorties which were made against
him by the military authorities often reaultad in amall
engagement* in which the military usually suffered heavier
casualties than the bandits• Towards the end of the year,
however, a more serious view was apparently taken of thi*
bandit's activities ana the military garrison at Sirjan was
supplemented with more troops ana the attacks on the outlawa
were thereafter carried out with more effect. Lurad-Ali-
Murad was forced out of the district and eventually fled to
tfsr* with a handful of his followers, the remainder of his
gang being captured and brought to Kerman for trial.
The following are the more serious incidents reported
during the year :- *
1# .« * vill *£ er was attacked, wounded and robbed by bandits
on the ezd road, 15 miles from that town on January 4th.
A daring robbery took place at Baghin during the 2nd
half of January, when robbers entered the house belonging to
a member ot the Ibrahimi family and removed all the valuable*
aiov ®* ble Property they could lay their hands on.
One of the robbers was wounded in a clash which followed with
*m.t Ild th6 r9malnder • )etti * 0Md their
• uui ing the first half of March, thieves broke into a
store room in the Consulate premises and made off with some