A young man was shot dead during a mugging on University Road on Thursday. The incident in which Bilal Nasir, 21, lost his life had taken place at a teashop opposite the NED University in the afternoon.
Mobina Town SHO Zubair said the injured was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Police found that the victim and his friends were using their phones at a teashop when two men on a motorbike arrived on the scene to rob them.
Nasir tried to overpower the suspects but one of them shot him, allowing the muggers to escape. The young man had suffered a bullet to the chest and another to the leg.
The SHO said the victim had been shot with a 9mm pistol, adding that the police had found two spent bullet shells from the crime scene and sent them to the forensic division for examination. He said they were also checking for available CCTV camera footage.
Nasir was a third-year petroleum student at the NED University. He had six siblings. Police said they also found an Afghan flag sticker cap at the crime scene, suggesting that the suspects were of Afghan origin.
Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah took notice of the incident and sought a report from the Karachi police chief, stressing that “I want the youth’s killers behind bars”.
He ordered intensifying the operation against street criminals, telling the police that the parents of the young man must be kept informed about the investigation. “Such incidents are extremely painful.”
According to observers and officials, the crime situation in District East, especially on University Road and its adjoining areas like Sachal, Sohrab Goth and SITE Super Highway, is becoming worrisome.
They said muggings, and killings and injuries during snatching incidents are reported at different intervals in these areas, with the outlaws turning out to be Afghans in most of the cases.
They added that a letter had also been sent earlier to the police high-ups regarding the involvement of Afghans in various criminal activities, but action was yet to be observed.
According to the letter, Afghans and other illegal immigrants had established a state within the state, and they had also been involved in criminal activities. Moreover, a gang that was recently busted in the city’s District East comprised Afghan nationals who had been involved in robbing expatriates on their way from the airport.
The police letter states that many illegal Afghan nationals have been arriving in Karachi on a daily basis to live illegally in the city, especially in Sohrab Goth and its surrounding areas. Police said that the foreign nationals are involved in illegal activities like street crime, including looting citizens passing through the Super Highway, drug peddling, land grabbing and killing as well as anti-state activities within the localities of Sohrab Goth, the factory areas and the New Sabzi Mandi Super Highway.