The security agencies have detained Mumtaz Hussain alias Munna, said to be a member of the Mohajir Qaumi Movement - Haqiqi (MQM-H).
He is accused of killing nine MQM workers and robbing several banks of Rs3.2 million. “He has been one of the best hitmen [in the city] and we suspect his involvement in other cases as well,” said CID (Operations) SSP Fayyaz Khan, adding that the police have been searching for him for quite some time. Hussain was picked up from Dhani Bakhsh Goth near the Aid petrol pump in the limits of Gulshan-e-Maymar by a Crime Investigation Department (CID) team led by DSP Chaudhry Safdar.
The date of his arrest is not clear. CID officials said that Hussain had one TT pistol and five bullets on his person at the time. According to Khan, Hussain revealed during questioning that he and his accomplices looted a bank in the jurisdiction of Shah Faisal Colony.
They used seven motorcycles to escape from the spot and had a TT pistol to deter bank employees from taking any action. No CCTV cameras were installed at this bank, it did not even have a security guard.
The police suspect Hussain worked under Asim ‘Shahfaisal Wallah’. Hussain has allegedly told the police that Shahfaisal Wallah not only leads a group of killers but also selects targets. In the jurisdiction of Saudabad, Hussain is accused of shooting dead Ali Abbas, an activist of the MQM, allegedly on the directives of Zafar, another group leader. The police said he used a TT pistol.
Hussain is also accused of killing Muhmmad Tehseen Zaidi, a member of a local MQM committee, allegedly on the instructions of Asim ‘Shahfaisal wallah’ said a CID official.
Hussain and his accomplices, Shahkala and Kashif, allegedly sprayed Tehseen with bullets as he was waiting at a stop. The Iqbal Market police registered FIR No. 14/2010 under Section 302/34 of the Criminal Procedure Code. The police claimed that Hussain has confessed to killing Muhammad Fahad, another MQM worker, on January 1, this year.
The Gizri police had registered FIR No. 12/2010 under Section 302/34 against unidentified men. Fahad was standing at a wholesale shop when Hussain and friend Shahkala and others arrived on motorcycles and opened fire on him with their TT pistols, said the CID’s Fayyaz Khan.
According to the police, Hussain also confessed to killing Muhammad Faisal and Raeesud Din, two other members of the MQM, in the jurisdictions of PIB Colony and Khokrapar. He and his accomplices used Kalashnikovs and TT pistols.
They then targeted a Saudabad constable who was allegedly working as an informer for the security agencies, CID officials said. Similar was the fate of three other activists of the MQM - Muhammad Mateen, Warsi and Tahir - all allegedly on the instructions of Hussain’s group leaders. According to a list issued by the CID, Hussain has so far confessed to having killed six MQM workers during the years 1994, 1995, 2009 and 2010.
SSP Fayyaz Khan told The Express Tribune that the police had been searching for Munna for the last few years. “Each time, he would escape police raids,” said Khan, adding, however, that this time he was trapped in such a way that he had no other option but to surrender. He hoped the arrest of the ‘sharp shooter’ would lead to the arrests of many of his accomplices. According to the security agencies, Hussain had committed most of the crimes in the jurisdiction of the Saudabad and Khokrapar police stations
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