A family in Peshawar was temporarily apprehended by staff at the Hayatabad Medical Complex in Peshawar on September 18 for possessing a bag containing mosquitoes suspected to be carriers of a lethal disease, the director of the hospital, Dr Shahzad Akbar, told DawnNews on Wednesday.

One of the mosquitoes within the plastic bag held up for examination. ─ Photo by author

A man, his wife, son and daughter, all residents of Peshawar's Pishtakhara area, told the security guard at the hospital that they had been promised payment for letting the virus-spreading mosquitoes loose in the hospital, according to Dr Akbar.

However, after questioning the family, the guard released them with a warning.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government recently declared a health emergency in the province due to an epidemic of mosquito-borne diseases, most notably dengue.