Police gun down five ‘robbers’ in Karachi 'encounter'

Suspects part of notorious ‘Saraiki Gang’, say cops; PTI leader claims one of the men was her driver

KARACHI:

The Gizri police claimed to have shot dead five robbers, allegedly part of the notorious ‘Saraiki Gang’, during an encounter in Defence Housing Authority (DHA) Phase-IV on Friday morning.

A police statement issued on Friday evening said a police team was patrolling in Gizri at 4:30am when they flagged down a suspicious vehicle. Instead of letting the law enforcers check them, the men in the car leaped the bungalow’s wall and went inside, it added.

It went on to say the police surrounded the house and entered it, but the suspects opened fire at them. Five suspects were injured in the subsequent exchange of fire, while identity cards and weapons were confiscated from them, along with the double-cabin vehicle. The statement claimed they succumbed to their wounds while being shifted to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre.

Among the deceased men, three were soon identified as Muhammad Riaz, Muhammad Abid and Mustafa, with the help of their identity cards and driving licences, issued by the Punjab Traffic Police. Another was later identified as Abbas, while the last suspect could not be identified until the filing of this report.

According to South SSP Zubair Nazeer, the slain suspects were part of the ‘Saraiki Gang’ that had been carrying out robberies and other crime in DHA and Clifton. The police and other law enforcement agencies had long been trying to arrest them, he said, adding that the police were checking their criminal records and the National Database and Regulatory Authority was being consulted to identify the unknown man.

The police claimed in the statement that the gang, led by Mustafa, had 12 members, six of whom had been previously arrested while another was on the run. They added that the gang would receive information from the household staff of various bungalows and would subsequently rob these houses.

According to them, they were also involved in burgling the house of former Sindh chief minister Ali Muhammad Mahar.

‘Fake’ encounter

Meanwhile, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Laila Parveen claimed the encounter had been fake, adding that one of the slain suspects, Abbas, was her driver and had been arrested from her house before the incident on Thursday night.

According to Parveen, the bungalow where the alleged encounter took place was owned by her in-laws, while her mother-in-law had also been taken by officials in police uniform and plainclothes along with her driver. She added that the family had not yet been able to contact her mother-in-law.

“If Abbas was involved in any crime, the police should have presented him in court,” she maintained, adding that he had been working as her driver for five years. She said that she was out of town but would pursue legal action when she returned.

SSP Nazeer, however, denied Parveen’s claim of the encounter being staged, adding that the police would address any reservations on the matter and would provide Parveen with evidence if she reached out formally. “Everyone has the right to take legal action but we have all the criminal records and call data of the deceased robbers.”