close
Friday March 29, 2024

CTD busts gang of four robbers

By Our Correspondent
December 26, 2018

Sindh’s Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) on Tuesday claimed to have arrested a four-member Afghan gang for their involvement in a number of robberies.

Mazhar Mashwani, the CTD’s incharge investigations, said they had been reviewing CCTV footage of criminal incidents, especially street crime, when they found some suspects who seemed to be very active in the city’s Central and East districts. He said the suspects appeared to be of Afghan origin.

Mashwani said they had expanded their intelligence network, because of which they received a tip-off late on Monday night that a notorious criminal gang was present in the Mauripur locality.

He said that acting on the information received, a raid was conducted by CTD officials behind the Mauripur Truck Adda. On seeing the police approach, the suspects opened fire on them, added the officer.

However, he said, the counterterrorism officials retaliated, following which an encounter ensued. The operation ended with the arrest of four suspects, who were later identified as Abdul Hadi, alias Baadal, Mohibullah, alias Lalu, Mohammad Arif Khan and Mohammad Raees, alias Chakri, said Mashwani.

The CTD official said the raiding team also confiscated four TT pistols from the suspects, adding that they were wanted by the police in a number of cases of street crime and robbery, especially the incident committed in areas falling under the East and Central districts.

Moreover, he said, the suspects arrested in the raid were found to have recently committed robberies at different milk shops in the Gabol Town and Sachal localities. Further investigations are under way, he added.

Earlier this month, the CTD had decided to register FIRs against mobile network operators (MNOs) due to negligence in the issuance of SIM cards and not possessing records of the agents hired by the different franchises.

Investigations into recent terrorism cases found that terrorists use fake SIM cards. The CTD’s Raja Umer Khattab had told The News that SIM cards had become a headache for investigators due to the sales targets set for franchises by MNOs.

“During recent investigations, it was learnt that a fake SIM card used by a terrorist was registered in the name of a person living in a Goth and who had no information about it.” Khattab, who heads the CTD’s Transnational Terrorists Intelligence Group, said MNOs set targets for franchises to activate a certain number of SIM cards and then these franchises distribute them to their agents.