250 suspects held; huge cache of arms and 1,000 CNICs recovered

The law enforcement agencies (LEAs) on Sunday claimed to have detained over 250 persons as suspects and recovered over 1000 CNICs and a huge cache of weapons, including 256 rifle-grenades, in separate targeted search operations at various parts of the metropolis.
According to police sources, paramilitary rangers, along with policemen and sniffer dogs, conducted targeted search operations in different parts of the city, including Lyari, Nayabad, Daryabad, Agra Taj Colony, Bihar Colony, Baldia Town, Saeedabad, New Karachi, Iqbal Plaza near Radio Pakistan, Jackson, Gul Bahar and Ranghar Mohalla. They said the search operations started early on Sunday and continued for 12 hours, that led to detain over 250 suspects from different parts of the city. The law enforcers had had laid sieged to these areas and started house-to-house search, initially from several parts of Lyari including Nayabad, Singho Lane and Daryabad where some 200 suspects were detained and huge cache of heavy weapons was recovered. Later, the search operations were extended to other areas.
The LEAs detained some 100 persons from Iqbal Plaza and nearby buildings located on M A Jinnah Road, while several others were taken at Baldia, Sherpao Colony, Shah Faisal Colony, Keamari, Nazimabad and other areas. The Sunni Tehreek headquarters in Risala area and the office of Mohajir Qaumi Movement-Haqiqi (MQM-H) at Sherpao Colony were also passed through search exercise and the LEAs had also sealed the house of People's Amn Committee chief Uzair Baloch during operation. The residents of Lyari also staged protest demonstrations against the LEAs. The angry mob chanted slogans against the search operations accusing LEAs of detaining innocent. They also burnt tyres on main arteries and hindered the flow of traffic for hours. The search operation in several parts of Lyari continued for long hours that led to detain about 200 suspects. Of them, only eight were said to be notorious criminals, who remained in custody while rest of them were released after interrogation. Sources said the LEAs had recovered 90 different types of weapons in bulk along with daggers, telescopes, meat cutting blades, etc. Later, the Rangers had also displayed seized weapons after Lyari operation at People;s Stadium, Lyari.
The law enforcers also detained the president of Awami National Party of Bihar Colony Ward Shamsullah alias Agha and recovered a Kalashnikov from his possession.
Meanwhile, some five to six suspects were arrested in a joint operation of Crime Investigation Department (CID), Anti Car Lifting Cell (ACLC) and Anti Violent Crime Cell (AVCC) at Keamari and Shah Faisal Colony and three Kalashnikovs, one repeater and eight TT pistols were recovered from them.
The LEAs also claimed to have taken over half a dozen people into custody from Baldia town and recovered few weapons from the lawn of a Masjid on the information of one of the detained persons. SSP Naeem Sheikh told this scribe that the operation at Iqbal Plaza, M A Jinnah Road was launched on a tip-off of the presence of the suspects and added that only two suspects were nabbed while dozens others were released after interrogation.
The Rizvia police claimed to have recovered 256 rifle grenades, two Kalashnikovs and one TT pistol in a raid at an abandoned house located at Nazimabad No 1. Police said this house was owned by Sadiq but nobody was present during raid. In Sir Syed police remit, an alleged target killer, namely Nadir Shah was nabbed with a TT pistol and 50 slips of extortion during an encounter at North Karachi. Police said three other accomplices of the accused namely Kashif, Amir and Shahab managed to flee from the scene during encounter.
DSP Altaf Hussain said the suspect was affiliated with ST, who during initial course of interrogation confessed to have killed at least half a dozen people belonging to rival sectarian group Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan at Godhra Camp, New Karachi Industrial Area.
The New Karachi Industrial Area police also recovered weapons from a suspicious bag concealed in the graveyard located at sector 6-B of New Karachi and detained two suspects, namely Zahid and Abdullah, from the spot. Meanwhile, Baldia police claimed to have recovered over 1000 CNICs from a sack lying in sector 4-D. SHO Asad Mangi said the CNICs were recovered during search operation at various localities of Baldia town. He said the recovered CNICs belonged to various nationalities and the same would be handed over to Nadra.
He said the criminals had dumped the CNICs due to fear of apprehension during search operation, and added that these CNICs might have been used in criminal activities. Therefore, all police stations were informed to collect detained information about missing CNICs cases. About 90 percent of the suspects were later released when they were found innocent during the initial course of interrogation.