Police say CCTV camera system deliberately damaged before attack

By Faraz Khan
October 04, 2022

A Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) fireman wounded in the horrific shooting at the fire brigade station in Korangi on Saturday breathed his last at the hospital on Monday. According to the latest findings of the police investigation, the CCTV camera system was deliberately damaged two days before the attack.

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Two officials of the KMC’s fire brigade department were shot dead and a third was critically injured when at least two suspects on a motorbike arrived at the station at around 2am, woke up four of the employees there and began firing at them.

Two KMC officials, 55-year-old Amir and 35-year-old Mehboob, were killed and another, 30-year-old Irshad Rehmatullah, was wounded by the firing of two suspects, while the fourth, Zeeshan, managed to escape.

Police said Rehmatullah succumbed to his injuries during treatment at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre in the early hours of Monday. Since the police have included Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act in the FIR, Sindh’s Counter Terrorism Department is also investigating the case. However, the actual motive behind the incident remains to be ascertained.

Police on Monday claimed to have come across some important clues about the incident, but they said that the details would not be shared with the media at the present stage of the investigation.

“We’re certain that this was an act of terrorism,” Awami Colony DSP Arshad Leghari told The News, “because terrorists entered a government office and killed government officials, causing panic and harassment.”

The officer also shed light on some important development. “The CCTV cameras which we were told had been non-functional for the past two months had actually been deliberately damaged just two days before the incident.”

Police have also obtained the forensic report of the empties found on the scene of the crime. The forensic department has no previous record of the casings. DSP Leghari said the police are also re-examining the statement recorded by Zeeshan, who is both a complainant and an eyewitness in the case.

“We’re trying to ascertain who actually damaged the recording system of the cameras. Someone from the inside could have been behind the incident. But the police are investigating the case from different angles.”

Previous attack

On May 30, the KMC’s senior clerk Ali Waqar, 40, was shot by unidentified assailants inside the anti-encroachment department office at the Jubilee Market. He had suffered critical bullet wounds and was taken to the Dr Ruth KM Pfau Civil Hospital Karachi, where doctors pronounced him dead.

On June 13, police and Rangers arrested a man from New Karachi for his alleged involvement in the murder. During the initial interrogation, suspect Mohammad Shakir, alias Dheela, allegedly admitted to committing the murder.

Officials claimed the suspect was a hitman, who was arrested with the help of CCTV camera footage, and he was affiliated with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-London. Police also claimed that he and his accomplices had killed the KMC official on the directions of KMC Inspector Ibrahim, alias Topi, because there was a dispute between them over posting, not giving charge and share in extortion money.

Officials said the suspect was involved in several incidents of target killing, extortion, grenade attack and other heinous crimes, adding that his victims included three Baloch boys who were gunned down in the Garden area in 2011, and workers of rival political parties.

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