KARACHI: Law enforcement agencies on Friday intensified their crackdown against suspected killers after the overnight killing of two police officers and an attempt on two others. They arrested dozens of outlaws including a hit-man, accused of killing 57 people.
During the raids, held in different parts of the city, paramilitary rangers rounded up five workers of a political party including Moeez Saleem. Saleem has been charged with murdering 57 people including two rangers.
A spokesman for the paramilitary force said that the suspect was also wanted in launching attacks on police patrols and the Rangers. An anti-terrorism court today remanded Saleem into the Rangers custody for 90 days on the charges of murders, extortion and attempts to murder.
Besides Saleem, the Rangers also rounded up suspects from the Gulshane Maymar area in the outskirts of the city.
The five suspects were arrested from Sindh Hotel in Liaqatabad town.
In other areas including Landhi, Rizvia Society; Manghopir, Sultanabad, some 38 suspects were arrested during the search operations in those areas.
Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) of police in separate raids also arrested two assassins and extortionists from the Manghopir and the downtown areas.
Police officer Usman Bajwa told the media that they had arrested Yaqoub alias Mama from the Parking Plaza during a raid and huge cache of weapon was recovered. The weapons included a light machine gun; three Kalashnikov, a rifle, two repeaters, a pistol and many rounds.
The police officer claimed that Mama was responsible for the murders of police inspector Nasirul Hasan and Wakeel Bashir and eight others.
In its other operation CTD arrested Adnan alias Billo and recovered weapon and snatched cell phones.Police charged Billo with murdering a worker of a religious party and two others.
The fresh round of law enforcement agencies followed twin murders of the police officers on Thursday, when unknown gunmen targeted them while they were on routine patrol on their motorcycle. In the evening a traffic policeman was also targeted but he survived.
Meanwhile, a joint investigation team (JIT) set up to probe the garment factory fire in which 280 workers were killed, was expected to return home from the Gulf after recording statements of the two owners.
The JIT was formed after a twist came in the 2013 fire accident that suggested that the fire was not an accident but was caused by some extortionists, who were the workers of a political party, over failure of the owners to pay the extortion money.
