Law enforcers round up 31 suspects in several raids across city

Several target killers held on Monday belong to various political parties.

KARACHI:

The law enforcers rounded up 31 suspects, including alleged members of a banned outfit, in several raids across the city on Tuesday.

These suspects were arrested for the alleged involvement in several terrorist incidents, including Landhi’s bomb blast on Monday. The first major operation was carried out in Landhi’s Gulshan-e-Bunair early morning when nearly 20 men were taken into custody.

As the Rangers entered and cordoned off neighbourhood, they kept aerial surveillance active as well. The residents were not allowed to leave or enter the area while the operation lasted. According to a Rangers’ official, the operated was conducted after receiving a tip-off that the suspects behind the bomb blast in Landhi’s Khurramabad area were present there. Monday’s blast claimed the life of a paan shop owner, Shamsher Khan, who was affiliated with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and his teenage son, Alyan, and wounded several others.

Four suspected members of the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan were also among the detainees who were being questioned, said the official, adding that more than 50 weapons were also recovered during the operation. Rangers spokesperson Colonel Shafiq Niazi said that the detainees, especially four the suspected members of the banned outfit, are most likely involved in the Khurramabad blast.

In separate raids, the Rangers are arrested five suspected target killers from Surjani Town, Buffer Zone and Liaquatabad. According to a Rangers official, the five target killers belong to a political party and were detained during the targeted raids. They are being interrogated, he added. The Rangers spokesperson said that the weapons were also recovered from their possession.

Meanwhile, the Crime Investigation Department of the Sindh police claim to have arrested two alleged target killers during a raid in the Pehlwan Goth area of Gulistan-e-Jauhar. The suspects were identified as Zakir Khan and Sameer Khan. According to CID SSP Fayyaz Khan, the suspects belong to a political party and two pistols were also recovered from their possession. The accused have confessed to more than 50 target killings, extortion, robberies and other heinous crimes, he said.

The police have arrested four more alleged target killers from Sharafi Goth, Frontier Colony and Bukhari Colony, along with weapons. These suspects also belong to various political parties.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 13^th, 2013.