Another ‘encounter’ takes place in Sabzazar

Police claim two injured suspects involved in 100 robbery cases

LAHORE: Another encounter involving the Dolphin Squad has been reported in the city on Tuesday. Two suspected robbers were injured during the reported exchange of fire between the force and the suspects in Sabzazar area.

The injured suspects were identified as Adeel alias Adeela and Abid. The squad arrested the suspects on the spot and claimed they were “history-sheeters” involved in over 100 robberies.

Police said a team of Dolphin Squad was on patrol when it received information that two suspects were fleeing after a robbery at a house. The team started searching for them and soon spotted the suspects near Liaquat Chowk. Police claimed the men opened fire as the Dolphin Squad approached them. Both suspects were injured in the shootout.

Later, heavy contingents of police reached the spot. They cordoned off the crime scene and collected forensic evidence, while also recording statements of eyewitnesses.

According to the record shared by police, the suspects had committed a robbery for the first time in 2013 in the Iqbal Town police area. They were arrested in 2014 for the first time. Afterwards, they had been regulars at committing robberies and visiting jails, they claimed.



This was not the first encounter claimed by the Dolphin Squad in Sabzazar area. On June 14, a man and his two children were injured in an exchange of fire between Dolphin Squad and suspected robbers in Sabzazar.

Irfan was walking on a road near Saidpur Bridge of Orange Line Metro Train (OLMT) on Multan Road. In the meanwhile, four suspected robbers intercepted him near the bridge and looted him at gunpoint.

A patrolling team of the Dolphin Squad spotted the suspects who fled from the scene. The force chased the suspects and also opened fire. As a result, the victims, identified as Abid Ali and his two minor children, Ayyan and Fatima, suffered bullet injuries. An FIR was registered on the complaint of Abid Ali in Sabzazar. Police claimed the victims suffered injuries due to the firing of the suspects, while the injured man claimed that he and his minors were wounded by Dolphin Squad bullets.

Apart from such suspicious incidents, Sabzazar has been notorious for police encounters, especially one involving five suspects including two brothers. The encounter, after investigations, was termed as fake. Former Punjab chief minister Shehbaz Sharif was also nominated in the FIR.

In another encounter by the Dolphin Squad on May 29 last month, a 14-year-old boy was killed while a suspect was injured after the force opened fire when in pursuit of a vehicle. A team from the Dolphin Squad was on patrol near Shadbagh when they spotted five men in a vehicle with a suspicious number plate. Officials signaled the car to stop, but the suspects ignored them and tried to escape. While chasing the suspects, the Dolphin Squad opened fire which killed 14-year-old Saleem who was merely a passerby and returning from a grocery store. In addition to this, 25-year-old Atif, who was one of the suspects, also suffered bullet injuries.

Again in this case, police claimed that the accused had opened fire at police. However, several eyewitnesses offered a different version of events. Bystanders claimed that the people in the vehicle did not open fire on police. A large number of protesters, including the family members and relatives of the slain teenager, held a protest on Ring Road. They placed the deceased’s body on the road, thus blocking traffic, and demanded that a case be registered against the officials involved.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 20^th, 2018.