Gang accused of ransacking PPP MNA's home busted

Hyderabad SSP says recoveries also made from suspects

HYDERABAD:

The Sindh police on Tuesday claimed of busting the gang of robbers who burgled the residence of Pakistan Peoples Party's (PPP's) MNA Zulfiqar Ali Behan in Noushehro Feroze district on October 27, while keeping his family hostage for three hours.

SSP Hyderabad Adeel Hussain Chandio, who headed an eight-member Joint Investigation Team (JIT), told a press conference in Noushehro Feroze district that not only suspects involved in the robbery have been rounded up but recoveries have also been made.

"The police raided places in Karachi, Umerkot and Sujawal in Sindh as well as Faisalabad, Jhang, Pak Pattan and Vehari in Punjab besides parts of KPK and Balochistan in the hunt for the suspects," Chandio said. One of the arrested suspects, identified as Usman Siyal, was caught from Jhang.

According to the SSP, detention of a number of suspects in all these parts of the country eventually led the police to the gang which had carried out the October 27 house robbery. The suspects told the police during the investigation that they melted all the jewelry and converted it in pure gold on the very next day of the incident.

"This gang had also robbed residences and havelis of many politicians, businessmen and landlords in Punjab," SSP Hyderabad said. "Many of the gang's members have been gunned down in encounters with Punjab police."

According to Chandio, the police recovered 119.75 tola of gold, Rs5.3 million cash, a car used in the robbery, two Kalashnikovs and a pistol, licensed to MNA Behan, from the gang. The Sindh Home Minister Ziaul Hassan Lanjar had formed an eight-member JIT headed by Chandio to catch the culprits.

SSP Noushehro Feroze district Mir Rohail Khan Khoso and SSP Shaheed Benazirabad district Shabbir Ahmed Sethar were also part of the team which included four inspectors and a sub inspector as well. Three of the inspectors, Naek Muhammad Khoso, Waheed Ali Shaikh and Agha Asadullah Pathan, also belonged to Hyderabad. The inspectors reportedly played the leading role in the robbers' hunt.