Springing into action: Police nab militants, kill three gangsters in ‘encounters’

KARACHI:

Three suspected gangsters died in an alleged encounter with the police, while a housemaid and her two male companions were killed while they were trying to commit a robbery on Sunday.

Jaseem alias Golden, Shahid alias Mix Patti and Shoaib were alleged gangsters of the Lyari gang war, who were caught when the police raided their hideout in Lucky Pahari in the Raees Goth area of Mochko. In an exchange of fire, the three gangsters were shot dead while some of their companions escaped.

The bodies were shifted to Civil hospital, where they were identified. The Karachi police spokesperson claimed that the deceased were residents of Lyari’s Singu Lane area and were associated with the Uzair Baloch group. The gangsters were proclaimed offenders in several cases. Several arms and ammunitions, hand grenades were also found from their possession.

Jaseem and Shahid had head money of Rs1 million each while Shoaib had head money of Rs500,000 by the Government of Sindh. The Additional IGP Karachi announced cash rewards with commendation certificates for the team that carried out the operation.

Meanwhile, a woman and two of her male companions were killed when they were allegedly trying to commit a robbery at a bungalow in Scheme 33. The police said the robbers tried to rob the house owned by Ilyas Pasha, who works at the Sui Southern Gas Company. The robbers held the family hostage at gunpoint and started looting the valuables and cash from the house. Pasha, who was on the first floor of the house, called the police.

Sources said that Pasha killed all three robbers with his own licensed pistol before the police reached. However, the police claimed that they killed the robbers after an exchange of fire.

SHO Mohammad Shaukat said that the robbers succumbed to their injuries while they were being shifted to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre. He said the deceased woman was identified as Shahnaz, wife of Allah Ditta, who along with her colleagues, Naeem and Tariq Abbas, tried to commit the robbery.

Meanwhile, over a dozen suspects were taken into custody during a targeted operation conducted by the paramilitary force in North Nazimabad’s Mujahid Colony. Sources said that the door-to-door search operation was conducted on a tip-off about the presence of suspected militants. The suspects were shifted to an undisclosed location for further questioning.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 31^st, 2014.