Licence to carry: Rangers personnel arrest guards of politician’s son

MPA said, the Rangers personnel had released his son's guards after the permits were shown to them.

SUKKUR:

A large contingent of Rangers personnel cordoned off Bhayo House in Shikarpur for many hours on Sunday night after arresting the guards of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Maqbool Shaikh's son, Mohsin Shaikh, for want of permits for their arms. 

According to sources, Mohsin was on his way to Bhayo House in Shikarpur from Shaikh Farm when the Rangers personnel signaled them to stop at a checkpost. Shaikh, however, sped away with the Rangers in pursuit.

The Rangers personnel intercepted them a few metres away from Bhayo House and asked to see permits for the arms that Mohsin's guards were carrying. When they failed to produce the permits, the Rangers personnel arrested three of the guards, identified as Abdul Jabbar, Bashir Ahmed and Nazir Shaikh. The personnel also seized three Kalashnikov rifles and a vehicle from their possession.

MPA Abid Bhayo, who was present at Bhayo House at the time, tried to talk it out with the Rangers personnel, but to no avail.

The personnel also raided Jagan, the native place of PPP district president Babul Bhayo and Abid Bhayo, and arrested more than 20 suspects. Sources in Bhayo House, confirming the raid at Jagan, said that the Rangers had arrested innocent persons who were later released.

When contacted, PPP leader Maqbool Shaikh confirmed the incident, admitting that the guards should have produced the permits for the weapons.

According to him, the Rangers personnel had released his son's guards after the permits were shown to them.

Rangers and police personnel have been deployed at various locations across the district in the wake of rising incidents of crime in Shikarpur.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 20^th, 2014.