In the line of fire: Customs officials killed in raid

HYDERABAD: A Customs official was shot dead late Saturday night during a raid in the limits of Market police station.

“We were uploading the contraband items seized during the raid when shots were fired [and the Customs officer was hit],” additional collector Omar Shafique told The Express Tribune. The slain inspector Abdul Ghaffar Shaikh was among the 10-member team who raided the godown owned by Haji Ayub. He was shot in the head and was declared dead on arrival at a hospital. Shafique said Ayub and his sons illegally import gutka from India, adding that the estimated worth of the seized contraband items is around Rs7.5 million. Three suspects were also held during the raid, along with seven others, including a ‘lynchpin’, in follow-up raids by the Market police.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 7^th, 2016.