Targeted murders: LeJ man held for killing Express staffers

Suspect detained from FB Area along with 9mm pistol and hand-grenade

KARACHI: Police on Friday claimed to have arrested a suspected member of a banned religious outfit for his alleged involvement in the targeted killings of three Express Media Group staffers in early 2014.

The suspect – Sarfaraz  – was arrested by a team of Federal B Industrial Area police of District Central along with a 9mm pistol and a hand-grenade.

“Sarfaraz is an active member of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi,” claimed F B Industrial Area’s SHO Inspector Naeem Khan. “He has confessed to killing Express Media Group staffers with the help of other accomplices.”

SHO Khan said that the arrested accused was a resident of Orangi Town, who confessed that he and three of his accomplices attacked the staffers following the directions of their ‘Ameer’.

He was arrested during a raid near the Lyari Expressway in Block 21 of Federal B Area.

Interrogation of two of his companions — Tanvir Nadeem alias Naveed and Saqib Ahmed alias Chacchi led to his arrest. Both of the accomplices, arrested by Rizvia police along with weapons in the first week of January this year, also confessed to the killings.

Inspector Naeem Khan said that the accused and his companions were also involved in a number of targeted killings, including the murders of policemen.

Express Media Group has come under attack on three separate occasions.

The third and the most lethal strike on Express Media Group occurred in early 2014, when gunmen riding on motorcycles shot dead three Express Media Group staffers in a DSNG van parked in North Nazimabad. A TTP spokesman had claimed responsibility for the third attack.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 2^nd, 2016.