Crime control: Three robbers killed, four escape arrest

The suspects were rounded up near Ronti, Sindh after a chase.

BAHAWALPUR:

As many as three suspected robbers were killed and four managed to skirt arrest in two shootouts with police on Sunday night and Monday.

A Bhong police spokesman said on Sunday night, four unidentified men had stolen a car at gunpoint near Rangpur village and fled towards villages bordering Sindh.

He said Bhong police sent a team to chase the criminals. He said the suspects were rounded up near Ronti, Sindh.

The spokesman said the robbers shot at the police when they saw them approaching. He said two of them were killed when police returned fire. He said their accomplices had fled, leaving the stolen car behind.

Bhong police have registered a car snatching complaint. Ronti police have registered the FIR for the shootout.

Separately, a robbery suspect was killed but his two accomplices escaped in a shootout with police in a sugarcane field.

DPO Shabbir Ahmed told newsmen that three men had snatched a motorbike at the overhead bridge in Ahmadpur East from Ghulam Mustafa.

He said, police set had up pickets to stop them.

He said the men were stopped at a picket near Chak 98DNB.

He said they shot at policemen and hide in sugarcane fields nearby.

The DPO said one of them was killed while the others fled.

He said the motorbike and a Kalashnikov rifle had been recovered.

Police said the deceased had not been identified.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 30^th, 2014.