No mercy: Suspected robbers lynched in Landhi

Suspects were looting a house and had opened fire at two young men.

KARACHI: Two suspected house robbers were lynched by a mob in the Bilalabad area of Landhi on Monday after they were caught red-handed by the residents.

At least three robbers, who were riding a motorcycle, forcibly entered the house of a man, identified as Rasheed. They held Rasheed hostage as they stole cash and other valuables from the house. However, Rasheed's young sons, Kamran and Shahid, tried to put up resistance at which the robbers opened fire and tried to escape, leaving behind the stolen cash and other valuables.

When the neighbours heard the gunshots, they rushed to the scene and managed to catch two of the three suspects. The third one escaped under the cover of fire. The charged-up crowd beat up the robbers severely and also allegedly opened fire at them using the weapons found with the suspects.

By the time the police arrived and managed to wrench the suspects free, one of them had died and the other one died on his way to the hospital. Meanwhile, Rasheed's injured sons were also taken to a hospital from where they were released later.

Landhi SHO Huzoor Buksh Solangi said that the bodies of both the robbers were shifted to the Edhi morgue in Sohrab Goth after their autopsies were completed at Jinnah hospital. He said that a case will also be registered against the mob for taking the law into their hands. SHO Solangi added that the police recovered two TT pistols and a motorcycle from robbers' possession.

This was the second such incident to have occurred in District East. On January 31, two suspected street criminals were lynched by a mob in Korangi as they were trying to loot a passerby.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 10^th, 2015.