Law enforcement agencies (LEAs) conducted search operations in different parts of the city on Sunday and arrested over 200 suspects, some of them affiliated with political parties, and recovered huge cache of weapons from their possession. The detainees were then shifted to undisclosed locations for interrogation.
The Pakistan Rangers-Sindh along with the Karachi police conducted operations in Landhi 89, Baghdadi, Daryabad, Sango Lane and other areas of the metropolitan. Police said over 200 people were arrested in these operations and most of the detainees were released after interrogation.
Security forces cordoned off different areas of Lyari and conducted their search operations. Rangers’ Brig Waseem Ayub said 85 suspects were arrested, whereas 15 Kalashnikovs, 15 repeaters, eight double-barrelled shotguns, a single-shot firearm, over 150 pistols and revolvers, 160 kilogrammes of hashish, 500 litres of liquor and thousands of bullets were recovered.
Ayub said the detainees belong to different groups of Lyari gang war. After the operation, thousands of Lyari’s residents staged a protest, led by People’s Amn Committee (PAC)’s Sardar Uzair Jan Baloch, and blocked the road at Cheel Chowk.
Baloch told Pakistan Today that the Rangers and police had arrested innocent people and looted their houses during the operations. He claimed, “My own house was looted by the personnel of the LEAs.” Jewellery, cash and other valuables were looted from the houses, whereas the women were also brutally beaten up by the security personnel, he further alleged.
ST OFFICE: Security forces raided the office of the Sunni Tehreek (ST) in Ranchore Line and arrested four activists of the organisation. Security forces claimed to have recovered three Kalashnikovs, pistols and bullets from the office. Addressing a press conference after the search operation, the ST central leader claimed that no party activists were arrested and the recovered weapons belonged to the police guards. “Our activists are being killed across the city and our offices are being raided as well,” he said.
MA JINNAH ROAD: Police and Special Protection Group commandos conducted a search operation in the residential buildings located near Radio Pakistan on the MA Jinnah Road. The house-to-house search operation ended with seven persons being taken into custody. The families of the detainees staged protests against the police’s highhandedness and misbehaviour with the women.
MORE RAIDS: Rangers conducted search operations in Gulbahar’s Mughal Hazara Colony, Landhi’s sectors 1-D and 37-B, and Nazimabad’s Jalalabad. Sources said Rangers raided Keamari’s Jackson area and took four suspects into custody. The Shah Faisal Colony police arrested a suspect accused of murdering two people. The LEAs also raided an office of a political party in Landhi’s Sherpao Colony and arrested six suspects with weapons.
Raids were also conducted in different parts of Shah Faisal Colony, Keamari and Landhi. The Rizvia police raided a house in Nazimabad No 2 and recovered a huge cache of weapons. Police said they recovered 256 hand grenades, two Kalashnikovs, two TT pistols, five magazines and hundreds of bullets. The law enforcers are also conducting raids for arresting the owner of the house, namely Muhammad Sadiq. Rangers also recovered thousands of fake identity cards during their search operations. In another raid, the Defence police arrested two suspects accused of murdering three people four days ago in Defence Phase-II. Police said Rehan and Tazeen were arrested from Defence Phase-II.
MURDERED: Two men fell victim to incidents of targeted killing in different parts of the city. A police head constable was killed in Solder Bazaar by unidentified assailants. His body has been shifted to the Civil Hospital Karachi, and a First Information Report was registered against the unidentified assailants. Separately, the police found a body of an unidentified man from the Lyari Nadi. The victim was tortured until death, and his body has been shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre.
