NEW DELHI: A football team travelling from Karachi to Quetta to participate in the Chief Minister’s Gold Cup tournament was robbed at gunpoint on a highway in Pakistan’s Balochistan province, PTI reported on Monday.Around a dozen armed men intercepted the Karachi District West team’s bus between Mastung and Sariab, and took away the players’ mobile phones, cash and other valuables. The incident took place on Monday evening, leaving the players without money.Team manager Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto said the armed men ordered all passengers to get off the bus before robbing them."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."After reaching Quetta, the team informed Balochistan’s sports minister about the robbery. The minister intervened to provide the players with daily allowances, according to the report.Muhammad Azam, secretary of the Sindh Football Association, an affiliated unit of the Pakistan Football Federation, said the team had 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.He added that the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa football associations had also not sent teams for the tournament.The incident comes days after two local cricketers were abducted from Dera Bugti.The highway connecting Mastung district to Quetta has become a hotspot for armed groups targeting travellers, PTI reported.