Grab a bite: Inmate fakes hunger to lure policemen into trap

4 policemen wounded as men launch attack to recover companion from hospital.

KARACHI: At least four policemen were wounded when nearly half a dozen armed men attacked them in a bid to get their arrested companion free from police custody outside Civil hospital on Monday.

They managed to set their companion, Abdul Qayyum Baloch, free. According to the police, Baloch was a convicted felon arrested by Gulshan-e-Iqbal police in 2001 over a murder case. He was a member of a Lyari gangster group.

According to the police, Baloch was imprisoned at Central Jail, Karachi, from where he and another inmate were referred to Civil Hospital, Karachi, for a medical check-up. “Baloch wanted to eat a burger so I was just taking him to the vendor right outside the hospital,” explained one of the injured policemen, Dildar. “As soon as we reached the gates, someone opened fire at us and took Baloch with them.”

Apart from Dildar, sub-inspector Abdul Khaliq and constables Tariq and Shoaib were also injured. They are under treatment at Civil hospital.

According to the police, the jail authorities should be blamed for negligence. They did not follow proper security arrangements by failing to hand over the culprit to the court police, said DSP Zubair Tanoli. The injured policemen would also be questioned why he was taking a prisoner outside the hospital to grab a burger. The police have, however, yet to register the case.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 12^th, 2013.