In broad day light : Police clueless as another trader shot dead

Robbers shot dead kinnow merchant upon resistance

ISLAMABAD: Police were clueless about the killers of a merchant who was gunned down resisting robbery in the busy fruit and vegetable market last week, sources said on Saturday.

Sabzi Mandi police have no clue to track the muggers who had killed Ahmed Bakhsh, a kinnow trader from Bhakkar district, who was shot dead by two gunmen who robbed him of Rs650,000 in broad daylight on April 21.

Murder of a trader during an armed robbery in capital’s fruit and vegetable market has shook the trading community and once again exposed the lawlessness in the busy marketplace, people working in the market said.



Bakhsh, who grew kinnow in Bhakkar and supplied it to Islamabad, had come to the capital to collect the payment from his trading partners. He stayed overnight in the Sabzi Mandi and was leaving in the morning after collecting the cash when he was intercepted by two gunmen just outside the market.

According to reports Bakhsh was carrying the amount in a shopping bag. The two gunmen, who onlookers said, appeared to be in early twenties tried to snatch the shopping bag from Bakhsh and opened fire when he put up resistance. “They shot him three times. He would not have resisted if he knew the culprits had guns,” victim’s brother-in-law who was accompanying him at the time said.

The gunmen snatched the cash and fled on a 125CC bike. The third accomplice waited on the bike nearby. Bakhsh, who was hit in both his legs and abdomen, died on the spot, while culprits fled unchallenged. Sabzi Mandi police have registered a murder case against three unidentified men but have found no clue to them yet. “They avoided cameras, like expert criminals. Motorbike number could also not be gleaned. They took the IJP Road after the incident,” a police officer told The Express Tribune. He said police would try to track down the suspects through geo-fencing of the area.



The fruit and vegetable market usually witnesses high incidence of street crime in the Sabzi Mandi precinct. A tomato and onion trader was also killed by armed robbers in the market in 2016. Sabzi Mandi police station is located at a stone’s throw from the market and police have held several meeting with trades’ representatives but ensuring security at the market remains a challenge.

On Friday, a trader was also looted near Khanna Pul in Koral police jurisdiction. Two armed motorcyclists also mugged a man near Zia Masjid in Khanna police jurisdiction on Sunday.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 24^th, 2018.