Police reworking strategy against robbers

Officers say cannot destroy the riverine forest where the gangs hide

HYDRABAD:

Sindh police have temporarily suspended the operation against the robbers hiding in the riverine area of Shikarpur, senior officers said citing casualties, heatwave and the onset of the fasting month as some of the reason.

Moreover, police are reworking the strategy to flush of the robbers living in the thickets of wetlands along the Indus River.

Officers said they cannot harm the ecologically important forest where the gangs of robbers have their hideouts.

However, law enforcers face extreme challenges in entering the dense forest that provide ideal cover to the robbers.

In an on-going operation against dacoits in the riverbed area of Shikarpur district a Station House Officer was martyred on Saturday and a police constable was injured. The operation, led by SSP Shikarpur Tanveer Tunio and SSP Sukkur Singhar Malik was suspended after martyrdom of Abdul Ghani Jeho who was being shifted to the hospital when he breathed his last.

"Jeho fought bravely against the heavily armed dacoits for seven to eight hours," the SSP Shikarpur said while speaking at his Namaz-e-Janaza. Tunio said the outlaws are armed with anti aircraft guns and rocket launchers besides advanced weaponry.

Read More: Police bust four gangs of robbers

He added that the dacoits also had the advantage of hiding in the dense forest on the riverbank. The region's police have been raiding the hideouts of notorious dacoit Muneer Misrani in Shah Belo area. Misrani's group has been blamed for killings of several policemen and kidnapping for ransom of many people.

The SSP announced that the police department will give Rs10 million and a job to the family of Jeho, saying though there can be no compensation for the invaluable life. The police constable Muhammad Hassan Dehraj was injured and shifted to civil hospital Sukkur.

Jeho's Namaz-e-Janaza was offered at the police headquarters in Shikarpur. It was attended by all the top officers of the district.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, April 5^th, 2022.