Three killed in two police ‘encounters’

Two suspected robbers flee the scene, remain at large

TANDLIANWALA:

Three suspected robbers were killed while two others escaped during two separate police encounters in the city.

Police took possession of a motorcycle, weapons and other items belonging to the deceased suspects and shifted their bodies to the hospital, while launching a search operation for the suspects still at large.

According to the details of the first incident, suspects on a motorbike looted shops at near Hajiabad Chowk on Sheikhupura Road. During their escape, they were reportedly snatching a motorcycle from a citizen when they were intercepted by a team of Dolphin Squad oficers. The suspects opened fire on police, triggering a 20-minute gunfight on Main Sheikhupura Road.

Upon receiving reports of the incident, SP Madina Town Ahmed Zunair Cheema, DSP Sargodha Road, SHO Inspector Mansoor Sadiq, SHO Mansoorabad Talish Abbas and SHO Millat Town Rana Maghfur reached the spot accompanied by teams of elite force and police.

Police cordoned off the area and stopped traffic till Millat Chowk and Nishatabad Chowk, diverting the traffic through alternative routes. Two suspects were injured during the police encounters, who succumbed to their wounds on the spot due to their injuries. 

Sargodha Road police seized the stolen motorcycle, weapons and other items from the two suspects and shifted their bodies to the mortuary department of the Allied Hospital. According to police, the two robbers who were killed were reportedly history sheeters with involvement in dozens of cases of robbery and extortion.

Meanwhile, in another incident at Chak No. 602 GB on Faisalabad’s Tandlianwala Road, three suspected robbers at a checkpoint reportedly robbed a passenger van, a car and other passersby late at night.

When police arrived, the robbers opened fire, triggering a gun battle in which Farooq, a resident of 613 GB Sadar Tandlianwala, was killed.

His accomplices however, managed to escape.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 4^th, 2022.