'Robber' shot dead in police encounter

A suspected robber was shot dead while five of his accomplices managed to escape during an alleged encounter with the police in Gulistan-e-Johar on Monday.

The deceased was reportedly arrested by the police after being shot and injured, but succumbed to his wounds soon after being shifted to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for treatment.

According to East SSP Sajid Sadozai, the deceased was identified as Safdar Ali, 35, and weapons and a motorcycle were confiscated from his possession. He added that the police were carrying out raids to arrest Ali's accomplices.

Sadozai further claimed that Ali had a previous criminal record, with two cases registered against him at the SITE Super Highway police station.

The SSP stated that the police had received a complaint on Monday morning soon after Ali and his accomplices robbed a house in PECHS. He narrated that a police party later signalled to the suspects, riding two motorcycles and a car, to stop on University Road, but were met with gunfire at which they retaliated.

He added that the citizens who had been robbed and another complainant had also identified Ali as one of the suspects, while the police had launched an investigation into the case.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 18^th, 2020.