Shopkeeper shot dead resisting robbery

7 people have been killed during a robbery in Faisalabad district since January 1 this year

KURIANWALA:

During a robbery, armed suspects opened fire on a shopkeeper and killed him after he resisted.

According to the police report, Muhammad Kazim, a resident of Chak 37 North, had set up a shop of Awan Studio and Easy Paisa along with his father, 30-year-old Azam. The shop is located near Sheikhupura Road. Two suspects on a motorcycle arrived at the shop late at night and tried to snatch cash from Azam, who drew a licensed pistol to defend himself. The robbers fired at him, hitting him in the abdomen, chest and groin. The robbers managed to escape the scene while Azam was critically wounded.

Rescue 1122 personnel rushed Muhammad Azam to Allied Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries in the late hours of the night. Upon receiving the information, police officers including DSP Kharrianwala Usman Warraich, reached to the spot where they returned the body of the deceased to his son Muhammad Kazim. A case under section 302-393T was registered and police started searching for the suspects.

Police sources said seven people have been killed during a robbery in Faisalabad district since January 1 this year.

Police stations in which civilians were killed for resistance include Batala Colony police station, Nishatabad police station, Millat Town police station, Thikriwala police station, Kharrianwala police station, Balochni police station and Dijkot police station. Several cases of shooting civilians for resisting robbery have been registered in the city, with police seemingly struggling to control the rising wave of crime in the district.

Incidents of robberies ans street crimes are common in the region.

Read: Citizens forced to look over their shoulders as crime rises

On April 15 last year, in a robbery bid, fraudsters allegedly intoxicated two people including a Frontier Corps (FC) employee and looted cash, mobile phones and clothes from them in Dijkot. Police was informed by Tehsil President Finance Department Kango Sikandar Hayat that his son Asghar Shehzad was doing Balochistan to join his duty in FC. He was on a holiday and was waiting for his car at a passenger terminal near Crescent Mill when two fraudsters came and offer him a lift so he sat with them.

Hayat said, “On the way, the fraudsters intoxicated my son and the robbers looted Rs50,000 cash, a mobile phone and two bags of clothes from him. They left him unconscious on road and fled.”

Separately, under the pretext of giving a lift to 35-year-old Sarfraz Sharif near Jhang Road Panisra check post.

The fraudsters driving a car sat him and sniffed him drugs. Sharif was unconscious when the dacoits robbed him of Rs35,000 cash and a mobile phone in his pocket.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 13^th, 2022.