In the cross hairs: TTP commander’s cousin caught in raid at Sohrab Goth

Police conduct raid after tip-off on Taliban hideouts in Janjal Goth.

KARACHI: In an encounter with the police, a cousin of the commander of the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) was arrested along with his five cohorts, in one of the city’s no-go areas - Sohrab Goth.

Qayyum Khan, son of Ali Muhammad and the cousin of TTP commander Sher Zaman Mehsud, was arrested along with Abdul Rauf, son of Khaliq, Sher Ali, son of Kareem Ali, Rehmatullah, son of Sultan, Hazratullah, son of Muhammad Khattan and Niaz, son of Haji Jan.



The police conducted the raid after receiving a tip-off about alleged militant’s hideouts in Janjal Goth in Scheme 33, but the arrests were disclosed on Friday. The showdown started when the suspects opened fire at the police, when they entered their area. In retaliation, the police fired back and managed to arrest most of them. Some of the suspects escaped under the cover of firing.

The cousin

The TTP commander, Sher Zaman Mehsud, a resident of Sohrab Goth, had allegedly been involved several cases of terrorism, extortion and turf.

Mehsud’s brother, the former Sohrab Goth SHO Azam Mehsud, was allegedly nominated for carrying out a suicide attack on the former Malir SSP Rao Anwar’s convoy, which claimed at least three lives and wounded several others.

Following the attack, Sher Zaman Mehsud had gone missing, however, it was later reported that he was killed by his companions over an undisclosed dispute. His body was never found.

The crimes

Sohrab Goth SHO Naeem Kham, while talking to The Express Tribune, confirmed the arrests and said that the suspects were allegedly involved in several crime and terrorism cases. He added that the accused were suspected to have been involved in highway robberies, target killings of police personnel in Sohrab Goth in the last two months, and taking extortion money in the name of the Taliban. The police found six pistols from their possession, however, the police have registered cases against them to further continue the probe.

Policemen as robbers

Meanwhile, two police constables were caught red-handed robbing a house in Shah Latif on Friday morning. A score of people beat up the two constables, while the third one escaped from the scene. The constables were later identified as Iqbal and Mukhtar, one was uniform while the other one was in plain clothes.

According to residents, they recovered Rs20,000, which were robbed from the house. The police officials reached the site and took the custody of the suspected policemen, while directing an inquiry against them.

Raids

The police have detained more than a dozen suspects during targeted raids in Clifton and Defence Housing Authority. The police raided guest houses, rest houses and residential apartments with the help of DHA security. The police officials said that they did not find any weapon from any of the suspects, adding that most of the detainees were released later.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 27^th, 2013.