Six more people were killed on Tuesday, raising the total death toll to 111 from eight days of unabated violence in Karachi.
‘Target killers’ arrested
SSP Central Asim Qaimkhani and SSP South Naeem Sheikh presented four men at a press conference who, they said, were members of the ‘slaughtering squad’ of a criminal gang. They said that men had confessed to abducting and killing over a dozen people after sexually assaulting them. They also said that they are now looking for a prime suspect, who they believe is the chief of the ‘beheading squad’.
Qaimkhani and Sheikh said that the men were arrested late on Tuesday night after a police encounter in North Nazimabad. Police identified the suspects as Shahnawaz Baloch, Rafiq, Mustafa Baloch and Naeem Jan.
The suspects, police said, have also confessed to being involved in 13 cases of murder, attempt to murder and abduction. Police have recovered weapons and drugs from their possession.
According to SHO Anzar Alam, the men belong to Lyari’s Akram Baloch group, which is being run by Akram’s nephews Sameer and Afzal and is a rival of the now defunct Peoples Amn Committee.
“The men have admitted that they had killed members from rival gangs after kidnapping them from Lyari and surrounding areas,” Alam said. The men, he said, were wanted by Kalakot, Napier, Chakiwara and Risala police and are currently in custody of Kalakot police.
Alam said that in all 13 cases, the men abducted the victims, killed them and stuffed their slaughtered bodies into gunny bags. “Shahnawaz and Rafiq sexually abused the abductees, while Sameer beheaded them after injecting drugs into his body,” he said.
Other members of the gang kidnapped people and made videos while they were being tortured. These videos, Alam said, were found from the mobile phones of the arrested men. In another raid, alleged target killer Ejaz Chohto was arrested from Tipu Sultan Road under the jurisdiction of Baldia Police Station. SHO Haq Nawaz said the arrested accused is a political worker and was involved in nearly 50 cases of heinous crimes, including target killings.
Meanwhile, Saeedabad police also claimed that it had apprehended a target killer, identified as Abul Ghaffar, said to be affiliated with the MQM. Read Moire at Express Tribune Pk
