Guilty but not charged: Suspects come and go as investigations fail police

Over 14,000 out of the 15,671 suspects arrested in the operation were released.

KARACHI: Azizullah Shamzai was no small-time street thug. The man turned out to be one of the city’s most wanted militants. Alas! The discovery of his true identity came only after he was released on bail.

Shamzai was apprehended by the Rangers in a routine raid conducted in Orangi Town in September. The Rangers personnel had even found two hand grenades in his possession for which the police had indicted him in an FIR registered under Section ¾ of the Explosives Act and for attempted murder. The police could not, unfortunately, provide sufficient evidence to prove him guilty. He was released on bail and no one knows about his whereabouts ever since.

“We had no idea about his true identity as he had provided us with a fake name — Aziz alias Haji Sahib,” the former Pirabad police station’s SHO Abdul Moid told The Express Tribune.

Shamzai is commander of the TTP Swat chapter in Karachi. His group is accused of killing more than 55 police personnel in Karachi. Even after his release, he rejoined his group and carried out a bomb attack targeting anti-terror police inspector SHO Shafiq Tanoli in Old Sabzi Mandi.

Ironically, following the disappearance of the ‘elephant’, the law enforcement agencies are planning to include his name in the Crime Investigation Department’s ‘red-book’. The department is also offering head money for his capture.

What is lamentable is that Shamzai was not the only one to have taken advantage of the loopholes in the police investigations, lack of intelligence and bribe culture. Recently, two alleged target killers, Asghar Ali Magsi, the brother of top Lyari gangster, Ahmed Ali Magsi, and Shahid alias Bheja, whose arrests were disclosed at a press conference by the District East SSP, were released within a couple of days of the press conference.

Two other suspects, Abid Ali and Muhammad Hanif, who were charged under the Explosives Act by the police managed to get discharged from the anti-terrorism court because the investigators failed to find adequate evidence to connect them to the offences.

These incidents of criminals being able to get released due to lack of proper investigation on the part of the police are not just limited to a handful few. According to the law-enforcers’ records for the past five months, 15,671 suspects were arrested in 10,254 raids.

Over 14,000 of the total number of suspects arrested have been released in much the same way. Jail officials claimed that there are only around 700 suspects arrested during the Karachi operation in Karachi Central Jail and another 250 in the Landhi prison.

Improving the operation

Senior officials in the police department pointed out multiple reasons for the unsatisfactory results of the ongoing operation. “The police are in a very fragile position. There should be one commander for a police station,” SSP Rao Anwar told The Express Tribune. “The investigation and operational wings of the police should be merged and the SHO should solely be responsible for the operations and investigations of cases that fall within his jurisdiction.”

On the one hand, the Karachi police vow to continue the operation till the elimination of every last criminal while on the other, suspects are taking advantage of the loopholes in the police investigation system, improper intelligence and internal divisions within the police department to secure their release.

“It is a waste of time, resources and our efforts when a suspect is released due to lack of intelligence or improper investigation,” lamented a senior police officer, who wished not to be named. “Until and unless the police reforms, there will be no results.”

Published in The Express Tribune, February 25^th, 2014.