Rangers apprehend over half a dozen suspects in raids

Police inspector gets arrested for his alleged involvement in taking bribe from a citizen

KARACHI: Over half-a-dozen suspects were apprehended by the Rangers during separate targeted raids and operations in parts of the metropolis on Wednesday, while the anti-corruption department arrested a police inspector for his alleged involvement in taking bribe from a citizen.

A suspect, allegedly belonging to a militant wing, was taken into custody by the paramilitary force during a targeted raid in Landhi. The accused was identified as Aslam alias Munna. Quoting the initial investigations, Rangers spokesperson said that the suspect confessed to being involved in various murders, extortion, kidnapping and political clashes.

Similarly, Ahsan Iqbal, another suspected member of a militant wing, was arrested by the Rangers. He was taken into custody during a targeted raid in Usmanabad. The Rangers spokesperson said that the accused is allegedly linked to a team of target killers and has been involved in various cases of targeted killings.



In a separate raid, the Rangers apprehended another alleged member belonging to a militant wing. The accused, identified as Danish Fazal, was arrested during a targeted raid in Ramswami. The Rangers spokesperson said that the suspect has confessed to being involved in at least four cases of targeted killings.

All the three suspects were taken into a 90-day preventive custody of Rangers, after they were produced before the anti-terrorism court, the Rangers spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, four suspected gangsters were taken into custody by the Rangers during a targeted raid conducted in Korangi. The Rangers spokesperson said that weapons, including sub-machine guns, uni-barrel rocket launchers, hand grenades, avan grenades and pistols, were seized from their possession.

On the other hand, the anti-corruption department (ACD) has arrested a police inspector for his alleged involvement in taking bribe from a citizen. The accused, identified as ASI Luqman, was posted at the counter-terrorism department. ACD director Nazar Muhammad said that Rs140,000 was recovered from his possession shortly after he allegedly collected bribe from resident of Qasba Colony in Orangi Town.

Raids in Malir: Four ‘militants’ killed in separate shoot-outs 

Four more suspected militants were killed during alleged encounters with the police in District Malir on Wednesday evening.

The alleged militants were killed when the police conducted raids at their hideouts in Sacchal Goth and Ghazi Goth. District Malir SSP Rao Anwar said that a total of four terrorists were killed during the shoot-out, adding that the raids were conducted on intelligence-based information that the accused were planning to carry out major terrorist activities in the city.

Few of their companions managed to escape under the cover of fire, the police said. SSP Anwar claimed that the suspects killed during the encounter allegedly belonged to the Swat chapter of Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) Pakistan. Two of the militants killed were identified as Khan Wali and Ameerullah Mehsud, said SSP Anwar. He added that Mehsud was the commander of TTP in Waziristan and has been involved in various attacks on security forces in Waziristan. The police also claim to have seized a huge cache of explosives and weapons from their possession. The bodies were shifted to Edhi morgue in Sohrab Goth for identification purpose, after medico-legal formalities were completed at Jinnah hospital.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 28^th,  2016.