Extortion: Trader's residence targeted in Karachi

KARACHI: A grenade was hurled at a trader’s house located in the Defence Housing Authority’s Phase-I area of Karachi on Monday. However, the grenade did not explode and cause any harm, Express News reported.

The trader, Mian Naseer, had refused to pay extortion money when he was approached by a few men. He also received a number of threats as a result.

According to Express News correspondent Nadeem Ahmed, Senior Superintendent of Police Asif Ejaz Shaikh verified the attack and revealed that Naseer was being threatened for the past two months over phone.

Today, during the early hours, unknown men on motorcycles came around his residence and threw a grenade inside.

The Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) obtained the grenade and revealed that it was manufactured in Russia and that the explosive material was unfilled from the grenade before it was thrown inside the house.

Naseer owns flour mills in Korangi.

Earlier, a man was injured while at least three vehicles caught fire when armed men threw a hand grenade outside a departmental store near the NIPA flyover.

The Chase departmental store is situated near NIPA Chowrangi in Gulshan-e-Iqbal within the limits of Aziz Bhatti police station.

Officials had believed that the grenade was thrown after the store operators refused to pay extortion money, before hastily adding that investigations were still underway.