Crackdown: 30 Lyari gangsters killed in Karachi operation, says police

South police have arrested 167 suspects in two-and-a-half months.

KARACHI: Thirty gangsters have so far been killed in separate encounters in Lyari in the last two-and-a-half months since the Karachi operation started, said district South police chief Abdul Khalique Shaikh.

To bring down crime in Lyari, a year or more would be required and the neighbourhood would definitely become crime-free, he said while speaking to the media during a press conference at his office on Friday.



“The police are doing a good job in Lyari and it should be appreciated,” he said, adding that seven suspects were killed a day after the gangsters attacked the police’s armoured personnel carrier in Lyari that left a policeman dead.

He said that a total of 167 suspects have so far been arrested by district South police during the last two-and-a-half-months and the arrested men included members of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Sunni Tehreek (ST) and Lyari gang war, adding that 649 weapons of different calibres were also seized from their possession. He said that 20 target killers and nine high-profile criminals were also among the arrested.

South police chief said the arrested culprits were involved in various cases of crime, including murder, attempt to murder, street crime, extortion and police encounter while the arrested MQM men were involved in the snatching of hides, forced collection of fitra and other crimes.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 30^th, 2013.