Spontaneous decisions: Robbery suspect killed in ‘shootout’

His accomplice managed to flee in the dark.

FAISALABAD:

A robbery accused was killed in what the police claimed to be a shootout. His accomplice, however, managed to flee. 

Senior Superintendent of Police (operation) Sadiq Dogar said the shootout took place near ChenOne graveyard late Sunday night. He said that they had stopped two men on a motorcycle near the graveyard, but they ignored police instructions.

The men were chased by a police team, led by Station House Officer Muhammad Asim Khan.

The SHO said that the suspects accelerated away instead of stopping and escaped towards the graveyard. He said the suspects abandoned their motorcycles outside the cemetery and had gone inside.

“The police team too entered the graveyard and ordered the two men to surrender, but they started shooting at us,” the SHO said. When the police returned the fires, he said, one of them was shot and died on the spot. His accomplice fled under the cover of darkness, he said.

The police claim to have recovered a 0.30-bore pistol, three magazines, nine bullets, cash, a mobile phone and a national identity card number with the name Mukhtaran Bibi from the possession of the man who was killed. He was later identified as Zahoor alias Joori, a resident of Chak 236-RB, Faisalabad. Police claim that they traced 42 cases, including robbery and murder cases, against the deceased in several police stations in the district. They also took the motorbike in their custody. Police have started looking for the man who fled.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 29^th, 2012.