Notorious drug peddler Mehfoozullah, alias Bhalu, was killed in an encounter with the Crime Investigation Department (CID) in the Kati Pahari area on Tuesday night.
Hailing from Kala Dhaka of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Mehfoozullah, who used to call himself 'Bhalu Bhai Basikhel' was wanted for involvement in various cases of narcotics and crime. He was killed in a raid conducted by the Counter-Terrorism and Financial Crime Unit (CTFCU) of the CID.
He was a former member of a Pashtun political party. His association was terminated by the party due to his criminal activities, said CTFCU in-charge Raja Omar Khattab. Following this, for the last six years, he operated his own narcotics business from Kati Pahari in the Sharae Noor Jahan area. His hideout was situated on the top of Kati Pahari.
According to Khattab, Mehfoozullah reportedly had ties with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and acted as a cover for law enforcers, who helped him work from the area. He was also accused of being involved in extortion activities and attacks on law enforcement agencies. He had about 200 marble factories out of 350 in the city paying him extortion money. His group often attacked factory authorities with hand grenades and gunfire if they refused to pay, he added.
Heading his own gang, he had CCTV cameras installed at Kati Pahari and its surrounding areas to monitor the movement of the Rangers and police and to evade arrest. Residents also supported his group, keeping him informed about possible actions by the law enforcement agencies against him, Khattab claimed.
A former rickshaw driver, Mehfoozullah had been operating from Kati Pahari for several years. However, law enforcement agencies repeatedly failed to arrest him despite conducting several raids. He was reportedly injured in an attack by a rival gang in July 2013, which also killed his accomplice, but he managed to flee.
He had previously managed to escape during a CTFCU raid on March 31, 2013, but lost his life in a second raid at his hideout on Tuesday. Two members of his gang were also arrested and shifted to an undisclosed location. The CTFCU in-charge said that a large cache of weapons and narcotics had been seized from the hideout as well.
The provincial government had announced a reward of Rs0.5 million for Mehfoozullah's capture, dead or alive. Karachi additional IG Ghulam Qadir Thebo further announced a Rs0.5 million reward for the CID team that participated in the raid.
In a separate incident, an alleged criminal was killed during an encounter with the police in the Mauripur area. Police officials said that a raid was conducted after they received a tip-off about the presence of suspects in various cases of crime at the location. The deceased criminal's companion managed to escape during the raid. Weapons were also seized from the hideout. The body of the criminal was taken to the Edhi morgue in Sohrab Goth for identification after medico-legal formalities were completed at Civil Hospital, Karachi.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 25th, 2014.
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