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Long overdue: Police arrest suspected polio team attackers

Rangers also arrested 17 suspects during various raids in the city

Our Correspondent September 24, 2015

PHOTO: FILE

KARACHI: Police claim to have arrested over one-and-a-half-dozen suspects, including alleged target killers involved in attacks on polio teams and law enforcement agencies, in the metropolis, while the Rangers claim to have apprehended 17 suspects, including members of banned outfits.

District East police claimed to have arrested 21 suspects, including alleged target killers, who have been involved in attacks on polio teams and law enforcers in the city. Their arrests were disclosed during a press conference by District East SSP Javed Jiskani at his office on Thursday.

The suspects arrested included Bilal alias Jibran, Amir, Adil, Syed Amir, Zafar Ali, Daniyal Khan, Nabeel, Abdur Rehman, Tanvir Ahmed, Shahid, Saboor, Abdul Ghaffar, Sajjad Imran, Danish Hussain, Rashid Hussain, Nazakat Ali, Irshad, Sabir Butt, Abdul Arif and Anas.

SSP Jiskani said that one suspect, Bilal alias Jibran, was involved in an armed attack on a polio team in Nazimabad in January this year. A policeman, Shamir, who was guarding the polio vaccination team, lost his life in the attack. The accused and his comrades managed to escape with the policeman's official submachine gun. SSP Jiskani said that the accused was also wanted by the Gulshan-e-Iqbal and Aziz Bhatti police.

Another suspect, Amir, was involved in the killings of three people, including an activist of the Awami National Party, Pervez Bangash, in Natha Khan Goth in Shah Faisal on April 2014, said SSP Jiskani. The remaining suspects were involved in various cases of extortion and street crime. Cases against them were registered and further investigation is underway, he added.

Separately, the Rangers claimed to have arrested at least 17 suspects during various targeted raids and operations in parts of the metropolis on Thursday. According to the Rangers spokesperson, the arrests were made during targeted raids conducted in parts of city including Moinabad, Landhi, Green Town, PIB Colony, Hill Park, Gul Plaza and Liaquatabad. The spokesperson added that target killers, terrorists of banned outfits and kidnappers were among the detainees and that weapons had also been seized from their possession. The suspects were shifted to an undisclosed location for further questioning.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 25^th, 2015.